Wishes Don't Come True
by LenneDalben
Summary: All this mess got started . . . by one ridiculous wish. A wish I didn't even remember making. Vincent ValentinexOC -Complete-
1. Chapter 1

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine (as much as I'd like to)**.** **Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura**.  
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><p><strong>Chapter One:<strong>

One Monday night, just as I turned off my computer and headed to bed, I made a wish. A stupid one at that, but I made it nonetheless.

_I wish . . . I wish Vincent Valentine were real, and that he was here with me . . . and that he stayed with me, forever . . . _

You know, just another of your typical harmless wishes that you never bothered to care about because you knew it wouldn't come true. Yeah, that's what I thought, too.

Until, the next morning, when I awoke to the sounds of my parents talking, my dad going down the stairs loudly, then back up just as loud.

"Ugh!' I groaned, burying my face into my pillow, trying to go back to sleep. "Why can't they just be quiet, for once?" I groaned into my pillow.

This was a daily routine during this sappy summer. From Monday to Friday, I would wake up at basically the same time my dad did before he had to go to work at seven am. Of course, he was usually late. But, that's not to mention he has to go do P.T. at damnably _five am in the morning! _Let me tell you, that's no picnic.

Then, the goddamned trumpets, at six thirty in the morning, saluting the frigging flag of Maryland. Oh, the torture of it was never going to end. And to think, I had to live here for the next two years! This was basically my form of hell! I already couldn't sleep, suffering from a minor case of what I would call insomnia, with not being able to sleep for most of the night and waking up at random intervals, then waking up from all the sounds.

I somehow fell asleep-like I usually do-and figured it was nine when I woke up again.  
>I open my eyes a crack and notice the darned sun shining with all its might through my windows covered with blinds. As if the sun knew I was awake, it shined a bit stronger, to force me to truly rise. I growled and covered my face with my comforter (yes, I know, it's summer and all, but my dad likes the house at sixty degrees Fahrenheit-not that I minded, I like the cold-so I figured I better wrap myself up good during the night). That's when I feel two things simultaneously.<p>

One, a strong wave of hunger that I try to ignore from not wanting to get up and risk seeing my mom, dad or little brother on the way downstairs for some food-again, part of my mornings. As you can see, I'm not a morning person at all. In fact, I'm usually in my room and you won't see me at all until one or two pm, when I go eat despite the fact I'm not that hungry anymore. Then I remember that I ate all the cereal yesterday.

_I suppose I could eat a poptart . . ._ I thought.

Two, I felt someone's eyes boring into me. I knew it couldn't be anyone from my family because I would have heard the door open, asleep or not because the door creaks every time you open or close it. But then, who could be this person? I could feel my heart pounding away in my chest.

Who the _hell _was this person? I was afraid to look and see, but I made myself turn over and face whoever that was. My eyes widened as I saw who was sitting there one my computer chair, their incredibly beautiful blood red eyes never leaving me. The corner of my lip twitched slightly. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Who are you and why am I here?" I heard his deep voice say.

"My name is Tatiana and you are in my room. We are in Maryland . . ."

Talk about strange, huh? Of course, I'd _totally_ forgotten about the wish I made last night, just before falling asleep.


	2. Meetings and Explanations

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the review!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine (as much as I'd like to)**.** Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.  
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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Meetings and Explanations<strong>

"Let me take a guess at your name . . . Vincent Valentine," I said, my sarcastic morning mood taking over. I am anything but a morning person.

"Yes . . . how did you know?" he asked.

"Well, you're famous. I hate to break it to you, but your life's just part of a video game," I replied sardonically. I threw off the covers and went to my closet, looking for something to wear. "Two video games, actually. Final Fantasy 7 and Dirge of Cerberus," I added, my voice not as sardonic.

"Are you serious?" he asked after a while.

I turned to face him and noticed his gaze turn a bit cold. He seemed a bit shocked but mostly suspicious. Hey, I would be, too, if some random person told me that my life was just part of some video game I'd never even heard of.

"Yes," I said rather mirthless. "Here, let me show you," I said. I flipped open my laptop and went to the internet. I went to and typed in Vincent Valentine.

"This is the internet. World Wide Web, or WWW, as most people know it. If you go to a specific website, such as wikipedia, it'll give you information on almost any subject. It's used for research," I told him, and showed him it. "Read, if you'd like," I said, partly trying to make up for my sarcastic, rude behavior.

I fished out some clothes out of my closet and ended up wearing a pair of light denim jeans with a black shirt. I brushed my hair out and put it up with a clip. I leaned back against my dresser and eyed Vincent carefully.

I knew he wasn't the type to let his emotions show, but I was still carefully scrutinizing him for anything he might let slip. After a while though, I felt a bit ashamed for staring so I opened the blinds on my window and made my bed. When I was done, I looked back at Vincent, and he seemed like he'd finally stopped reading. I sat on my bed and waited for a response.

He turned to me, and after a while, he said, "So," I flinched slightly when he spoke again but regained my composure, "basically, my entire life . . . is just part of these two video games?"

_Uh-oh, his tone doesn't help . ._ . I thought. I racked my brains to try and comfort him while thinking about how to answer his question.

"Well, not that the experiences don't count anymore but-" I shut up and seriously thought about this again. I avoided meeting his gaze once I saw the bit of hurt that escaped his guard.

"Basically," I said, after some time, "yes, but-" his face fell, he had his head in his hands, elbows on his knees.

_Okay, that was kind of what I was expecting, but not that quick_, I thought.

He looked so miserable that I wanted to cry. And it took quite a lot to make me want to cry. Since I had absolutely no idea how to comfort someone who's just been told his life was meaningless, only to entertain others, I just sat there quietly, staring at the hideous brown carpet of my room.

I sighed softly, thinking that I would only have to endure one more year here, and then I was off to college. Not much of an escape from arguments with my parents and little brother, but at least I kinda had something to look forward to. I would be getting closer to my goal: being a surgeon. But then the hardships of college and annoying people that want to get you drunk and party instead of study for tests and classes to come.

_But it's worth it_, I thought. _I will_ _at least be closer to my goal, might even achieve it . . ._

My thoughts were interrupted when Vincent asked, "Are you all right?"

My head snapped up and I met his eyes. "You just found out that your life was just a video game for other people's entertainment and yet you're wondering if _I'm _okay?" I shook my head. "Wow, you're weird."

"What are you saying? That I can't be concerned for you because of my personal problems?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you _shouldn't _be concerned for my well-being. You'd just be another person I'd disappoint," I replied, almost trailing off at the end.

Our conversation was interrupted by footsteps and a voice. My mom.

I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.. What would I say if my mom saw Vincent? "Uh, mom, you're dreaming, there's nobody there," and take her to her bed and say, "It's just a dream, don't worry about it?" Please. My mom would rather shoot herself in the foot before believing a lie that obvious.

Vincent must've been thinking around the same lines, because he did what any sensible person would've done in this situation: he hid in my closet. At an incredible speed, too. One second he was sitting on my computer chair, next, he was in the closet and there was no trace of him ever being there. I stifled a laugh at what a cliché that was, though.

"Tatiana! Oh, good, you're up and dressed!" I resisted my urge to growl and glare at her for just barging in, but she's my mother, blah, blah, blah, something about respect, blah.  
>That's when my brother came in. <em>He <em>knows he isn't allowed in my room unless I give him permission to, or that mom calls him in there, but in this case, he just walked in.  
><em>Ah, someone to glare at!<em> I thought, and glared at my little brother with all my might. He glared back for a few seconds but since the idiot began to smile and laugh he broke it. My upper lip curled over my teeth just a little but I forced myself to calm down and not tear his head off (I know, anger management, but the truth is, I get that from my dad and I get my amazing sarcasm from my mom.)

My mom then proceeded to explain that she had a lot of things to do today; she needed my help with it, blah, blah, blah, something about most of the tasks needing to be done by noon, which was virtually impossible, blah, blah, blah. I noticed that most of the things she said involved leaving the house.

What was I going to do with Vincent? I don't know how comfortable he was with staying here until we finished our tasks, and I wasn't sure if I was the only one who could see him. I was trapped. On one hand, if I was the only one who could see him it would look like I was insane if I was talking to him (him being invisible, you see me talking to thin air, you get the point). On the other hand, if other people could see him, they would, of course, deem him strange, my mom wouldn't allow him to stay here, my dad would agree with her, and my brother would pester him.

I managed to keep my face unemotional as my mom explained the tasks ahead and only nodded when she was finished. Once she left and I had pushed my brother out of my room, I began to slide down my closed door, thinking about the impossibility of _this _task.

I came to this after five minutes of wracking my brain: I had no idea what I was going to do with Vincent. I certainly couldn't tell anyone about him, or let anyone see him, but I had nothing else.

Vincent had stepped out of the closet and had been watching me slide down the door and hit the ground with a soft thud. His eyes twinkled a bit, as though he was amused, but then the next second they softened with concern. I wondered how someone's eyes could do that and look just as good as it did in Vincent's eyes.

He walked towards me, then knelt down to my height, and asked, "Are you alright?"

I shook my head, but managed to maintain eye contact. I felt utter defeat begin to consume me.

"I'm sure we can figure something out . . ."

The way he said "we" made my heart flutter. I wasn't sure that was a good thing, given the circumstances.


	3. Hard Task

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the review!**  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine (as much as I'd like to)**.** Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.  
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><p><strong>Chapter Three: Hard Task<strong>

Vincent cocked his head to one side while looking at me. "Why are you so glum? It's not the end of the world," he said.

I looked away, and then back into his eyes. "Well, I just feel totally trapped. There's nothing I can do that will work because-" I stopped short at the slight amused look in his eyes.

"Is this funny to you?" I asked him with narrowed eyes.

I could tell he stifled a chuckle. My eyes narrowed further. I got up, and began to do things to fill my time: close my laptop, fix things on my dresser, put things where they belong and such. I was currently ignoring him.

_Am I really that amusing when I'm worried?_ I thought. _Or is he doing this just to annoy me?_

I didn't think Vincent was one to try to annoy people, so that struck me as odd.

"No, you don't amuse me in the sense you're thinking," he said after a while, making me flinch. "Why do you flinch every time I say something?" he asked.

"Because I get used to the quiet and then you break it," I explained, still not looking at him. When my dresser had basically nothing on it, I turned to face Vincent.

"So, what did you have in mind?" I asked him.

He caught on and said, "I was wondering if you had any ideas because I can't come up with anything except to stay here in your room, hiding."

"Well, I don't know if other people can see you or if I've just gone insane, so I wasn't sure what to do," I replied.

"Hmph." Silence for a while.

"Well, my mom is going to leave soon, so . . ." I trailed off.

"I'll go with you," he decided.

"And if other people can see you? I'm including my mom and little brother. My little brother knows who you are," I said.

"Your mom doesn't though, right?" he asked.

"No, she doesn't," I replied. "But I don't know if other people can see you."

"And you're thinking you can't risk letting anyone see me." It wasn't a question.

"Well, you don't exactly look like you're from around here," I said, controlling the sarcasm that wanted to be let loose.

"Let's put it to the test, then," he said. "Call your little brother."

"Josh, get in here!" I yelled.

"What?" he said once he came in. "Woah! Am I going insane or is that Vincent Valentine off of Final Fantasy 7?"

My shoulders shook as I tried not laugh.

"Tatiana, are you going to tell him or should I?" Vincent said.

"Josh, you're not insane. Unless if you and I are insane, that _is _Vincent Valentine," I said with a sigh.

"Okay. Now, how did he get here?" Josh asked.

"I have no idea," I replied.

That _was_ an awfully good question though. He was from a fictional world, but yet he alone was made real. Or maybe he wasn't? I started to panic at the thought of Sephiroth loose in our dear planet Earth. Who knows how many he'd slaughter...

"Tatiana, could you not space out at this moment, out of all of them?" said Josh's acerbic voice.

"You really try to copy me, don't you?" I said.

"Never mind," he said, sighing. "What are you going to do about Vincent? I know we can see him, but what about mom and dad?"

"You won't tell?" I said, raising an eyebrow in surprise. My brother-the one I knew and had grown to hate-would've already told half the world about this.

He sighed. "No, what kind of brother do you think I am?"

"The kind that would want something in exchange for not telling a secret I told you and once I give you what you want you still tell," I replied with a slight spite.

"Ok, I shouldn't have asked," Josh said, chuckling sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "So you won't tell?"

"No, I thought we'd already gotten past this!" he said indignantly.

"Tell what?" said my mom as she peeked into my room. Too late to hide Vincent.

_Uh-oh . . ._ I thought.

She looked around and didn't say anything about Vincent.

"Oh, nothing," I said.

"Come on, tell me what?" she said, entering the room and standing in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"You see, I was joking around with Josh and ended up saying something quite mean, but then I realized that was too mean even though I was just joking around, and I wasn't sure if he knew that-"

"So she was worried I would tell because it was so mean but I knew she was just joking around," finished my brother for me.

I blinked. How did he _do _that?

My mom glanced from me, to my brother and said, unconvinced, "Okay. I believe you." Then she walked out of my room. "Hurry up, we're leaving soon," she said over her shoulder.

I blinked again. She hadn't said anything about Vincent.

"I guess she can't see him," I mused. "Well, she does hate the fact we spend so much time on video games, so maybe that's why she can't see him. Because he's from a video game, so-"

"So, because she basically doesn't believe in that, she can't see him!" concluded my brother.

"Ok, can you read my mind or something?" I said, glaring at him suspiciously.

"It's getting clearer," he said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, that's great, we got mom down. But what about dad?"

"Oh," he said. "Well, you're on your own on that one."

I sighed. "Well, we should get going. Mom's not going to be happy if she has to wait for us for too long."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," my brother said. "Hey, Tatiana, can I play-"

"No," I said.

"Come on, plea-"

"No, now go," I said, knowing he was asking for Crisis Core.

"You know, it's not your game," he pointed out uselessly.

I pushed him out the door and then closed it.

Vincent stared at me for a while.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing," he replied. "So, shall we go?"

"We shall," I said, getting my phone, stuffing it in my pocket as we walked out of my room and went downstairs.

"Hmm, it's ten. My dad should be here around eleven thirty," I said.

"And your mom said she had to fax some papers or something first, right?" Vincent said.

"Yes," I replied, sitting down on the loveseat, my favorite place to sit on. Vincent stood next to the loveseat, leaning against the wall, while my brother sat on the sofa.

"Ok, have any of you seen a bunch of papers?" asked my mom as she hurried down the stairs. "They were on the coffee table," she said as she looked through the papers on the coffee table. "No, they're not there," she murmured to herself.

"Could they be those on the dining table? How about in those other papers you had in your room?" I said.

"No, no," she murmured again.

After a while of this, she found out that the papers were already in the car. I sighed and went to the car.

I noticed that there was a giant box in the backseat, so that there was only room for one there. I usually sat in the front seat, but now that I had Vincent here . . .

Vincent noticed this problem too as he stood next to me. "I suppose we should both sit in the front seat, then," he said.

My eyes widened and I tried not to blush. "Yeah, I guess we should do that," I said. My breath got caught in my throat at the thought of that. How embarrassing. Couldn't he just stay in the house until we got back? Would it really be that horrible? I mean, we were just going to fax some papers, that shouldn't take long.

Vincent opened the door wordlessly and sat in the seat. I sat in between his legs and focused on just breathing, closing the door after me. A tiny pink blush came across my cheeks as I put on the seat belt, which, somehow, could still come around the both of us. My brother snickered in the backseat.

"Are you all right?" Vincent asked, his lips by my ear, which didn't make it easier for me on the whole trying-not-to-blush thing.

"Yeah," I said, not convincing anyone.

He let out a low chuckle. "Who are you trying to delude, Tatiana?" I realized I liked the way he said my name. Also not helping.

"No one, just myself," I replied, trailing off. He chuckled again.

My mom then got in the car and we arrived at the place without the use of our GPS, which was an improvement, because she usually gets lost easily.

I was teasing her about it as we got out of the car. Vincent closed the door behind me and we walked into the building.

We sat in the waiting area while my mom went to go fax the papers. My brother was playing on his PSP while I sat far away from him so that I couldn't hear the game's music. Vincent sat next to me.

"And now we wait, though it shouldn't take long," I said, more to myself. I stared at the wall in front of me and began to see blurry, like I always did when I spaced out. Soon I began to hear random songs pop into my head until I concentrated on one and just listened to the lyrics.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vincent sitting there, and further away was my brother playing his PSP.

I sang one of the random songs softly and tried to not drum my fingers. Failing miserably, I succumbed to drumming my fingers on the arm rest of the chair I was sitting.

"Tatiana, be quiet, I can hear you from over here," said my annoying little brother. He was only three years younger than me, which would make him twelve, but he's still really annoying.

"And I can hear your PSP from over here but you don't hear me complaining, now do you?" I replied.

"Whatever," he muttered.

I sighed and spaced out again. I drummed my fingers on the arm rest again, absolutely bored but not enough to muster up the courage to talk to Vincent. I mean, what would I say? I was starting to hate this silence and cursed myself mentally for not bringing my iPod.

I stopped myself from sighing again and stared at the wall in front of me. For some reason, this time I didn't space out and heard music in my head. I took out my phone and texted a friend of mine that lived in Texas.

My mom finally decided to be done with faxing the papers and came out from the office. "Sorry I took so long. I was reading this book and then I remembered, 'Oh, the kids!'" she said, laughing a bit.

I shook my head, following her out the door. "No wonder you took so long," I said.

"Yeah," my mom replied.

Once in the car, it was blushing time again. I don't know why, or I just didn't want to admit it, not even in my head, but I think I was blushing because I liked Vincent in a way that wasn't beneficial. Whether or not the circumstances had been like this I still don't think it would've worked.

When we arrived home I hightailed it to my room, but my mom still called me down the stairs.

I sighed. "It never works," I murmured.

"Well, she did tell you that you had to help clean the house, did she not?" Vincent said.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I still can't have false hope," I replied. I found myself trying to not say 'Yeah' around him. I'm not sure why.

"I suppose you're right," he mused.

"Yes, well, what are you going to do while I'm downstairs cleaning?" I said, trying to keep the flirtatious tone out of this. It would not help if I got comfortable around Vincent. There was still the issue of where he was going to sleep at night, and I did not happen to have an answer.

"One would think that the two choices I have would be to go downstairs with you, or stay here," he replied.

"Well, um, do as you see fit, would that work?" I said, suddenly unsure of where I was standing as I looked into his eyes.

He gave a half-chuckle. "All right. I believe you need a break from this intoxication state you're going through, so I'll stay here."

I blushed but tried not to. Was it that obvious? Then forget this! I couldn't let him know that I liked him, not this soon, and certainly I couldn't let it be that obvious! This was war, and I was determined to fight against my feelings for him. A fight against myself. That was an ordinary day in my life, but now this was serious.

_It is _so_ on, stupid feelings!_ I thought. And so, the ridiculous fight against my feelings and what was right began . . .


	4. Conversation

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine (as much as I'd like to)**.** Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Four: Conversation<strong>

My left shoulder twitched in annoyance. "Right. And I suppose that must mean I can't _stand _being away from you, is that it?" I replied sarcastically. "Well, have it your way. I'll be downstairs."

Thus, I marched out of the room, completely ignoring Vincent's surprised look and continued my march downstairs until I was with my mom.

Once I got there, she told me to look through some boxes and tell her what was in them so that she could decide whether she could use what was in them or put them in storage. It's been over three years since we've lived here and we still have boxes from two summers ago when the "household goods," or, in my favorite version, "crap of the house," arrived and we still hadn't finished sorting through the boxes.

My dad says throw it all away, and I agree with him. Most of that shit is useless and just takes up space. But my mom has a thing for keeping junk, so we're trying to cope with it.

Time passed by and it was 3:50 pm. My little argument with Vincent had been hours ago and I was just an itty-bit mad at him for it. One could say I know how to hold a grudge. What. _Ever_.

My dad had actually not come today for lunch; he'd gone out to eat with one of his friends or something like that so I was happy. It's not that I hated my dad; it's just that when he was here, he always seemed to only see me when it came to doing things for him. For example, he couldn't put his plate and glass in the sink himself; no, he sat on the couch and asked _me _to go put it in the sink. Another example: I am in my room, listening to music, he calls me down to put the dishes in the dishwasher _even though my brother's standing right there next to him_.

I came to a realization a couple of months ago, though: my dad has associated me with _them_. His idea of women. That they're only good for cooking and cleaning. But my brother is for having fun, though. He takes my brother to work with him, in the summer, of course, and leaves _me _stuck with mom, who nags like hell about my dad and me and my brother because we never help around the house and because we never clean up after ourselves when in the end, it's _me _who ends up doing everything. While she's nagging to my dad, it's _me _who cleans up, it's _me _who organizes things, it's even me sometimes, that has to end up cooking because she's yelling at my dad about how she's the one who's always cooking, and how he never likes what she cooks but always rushes her when she does cook, and then he says it was always him who cooked when we lived in Texas. Ha, funny.

That phrase, "When we lived in Texas," it comes up a lot in the arguments. Usually used by my dad to show how "when we lived in Texas" he had to do everything. But I'm afraid I can't side with him on that argument. He was _gone_, deployed in Iraq, for _fifteen months_, while my mom handled everything. And we, we were doing okay, you know? The bills were paid on time, we were usually early, if not on time for most of the activities we had to go to. We went to bed on time so that we were well rested the next day. But when my dad came back and my mom had to go to Italy for a week because of work?

Hell had broken loose. Just on the first day, we were all late for _everything_. My dad hadn't turned on his alarm the night before, that's how it all began. The chain of lateness. Because my dad hadn't set his alarm, my brother hadn't woken up, so when I was done and ready for school, at seven, was my dad was waking up. My brother missed his bus that comes for him at six thirty on the dot. That's when I'm waking up and getting ready for the day.

My dad was supposed to be at work at eight. I wasn't late for tennis because I'm supposed to be there around seven fifteen to seven thirty. My brother was supposed to be at school by seven forty five. At seven my dad finally got out of bed, I yelled at my brother to wake up and he did, angry, but not nearly as pissed off as I was. 'Goddammit, I _knew _this would happen! I told him at nine pm last night, "Dad, we have to go to bed." An hour later, "Dad, we _have _to go to bed." It was eleven, "Dad, do you plan to get up tomorrow?" Ugh!' was something along the lines of what I was thinking.

So my brother finally got out of bed, with his stupid, annoying slowness, got dressed, ate some cereal for breakfast, and was about to sit and watch T.V. before I said, "Don't you _dare _to turn on that T.V., you hear? Now, go brush your teeth, get your stuff for school and come back here." He rolled his eyes and went to do as told.

I narrowed my eyes. I knocked on my dad's door and noticed he was almost ready. Of course, the show doesn't run without me or mom. But I hate to admit it; I like being the one that the show depends on. Not because I like telling people what to do, but because it gives me the feeling that people _need _me. That's a nice feeling, when everyone usually pays no mind to you, only when they don't want to do something and give it to you so that you do it.

My dad took me to tennis before taking my brother to school. I thought that was plain stupid. So, of course, my brother was late for school and my dad was late for work. After school I had swimming, so I wasn't home until five thirty. My brother had a bus pick him up and take him to a youth center that closed at six. My dad was usually out at five. Do you see the tight schedule we're in? And, to top it off, my brother had Tae Kwon Do at six. Ha! It was a miracle my brother even got to the class. My mom all the way in _Italy _forced my dad to take my brother to class because it was six thirty when my dad realized today my brother had Tae Kwon Do. When we were there, I told my mom of the recent events of the day while my dad watched my brother in his class/session, whatever. She said that it was a mistake my dad had made and that it wouldn't happen again. The only thing that didn't happen again was my dad forgetting to set his alarm.

My brother missed his bus every day and was late to Tae Kwon Do _every _day. For the next _week_. I was so sick of this. I was actually wondering, "Is there really somebody watching over us? Does God really exist or is it all an illusion to make us feel better?" Yes, I was actually questioning that. When I told my mom about it she laughed and said, "You must've gone through something rough to be questioning _that_."

In the present time, I went back upstairs to find my brother playing PlayStation 2 and not really caring about the world around him. I let a half smile escape. I walked (with great shame all of a sudden) into my room, expecting the worst: Vincent gone. Okay, so it was more than just "I kinda like Vincent." Sue me. I'd love that.

I timidly opened the door, and said, very shyly, "Hi," when I saw that Vincent was still there, sitting on my computer chair.

Vincent looked at me briefly and then turned his gaze to the window.

"I'm sorry about my earlier outburst. I have issues when it comes to controlling my temper," I said.

Vincent nodded silently.

I sat over on my bed and looked out the window, wanting the day to end and night to begin already. I had always been a night person. Night owl, according to a quiz I took recently. When it was quiet, and others were asleep, that's when I was at my most active. Not in any other part of the day. I always thought that strange, somehow. Not even my mom or dad could last long without sleep. Yet I could?

I continued to stare out the window, watching the trees' leaves sway with the wind.

"You spend a lot of time daydreaming, don't you?" Vincent said after a while.

"Well, I wouldn't call it daydreaming. Sometimes I just space out and begin to hear music, sometimes I just wonder about things and other times I'm in one of my fantasy worlds, where everything in this world seems to disappear and I'm somewhere . . ." I trailed off. "Somewhere where I can't hear anything but what I _want _to hear, where things go how _I _want them to go, not influenced by other people, just the place I happen to be in the real—why am I telling you this?" I suddenly realized that here I was, spilling my guts out to this guy who just asked a simple question and soon I'd lost myself answering it and began to ramble on and on.

"Maybe it's because you trust me," he replied.

"Well, that can't be right. I don't usually _trust _people." But I had to admit, with Vincent around, I felt safe. Not that I wasn't safe when he wasn't around, it's just that, I felt, different, somehow.

He cocked his head to the side slightly. "Why is that?"

"I don't know," I replied, ignoring the question so that I could escape reality. I looked out my window again, hugging my knees and resting my chin on them. I sighed softly.

"You don't seem to like it here," Vincent commented.

"Well, I just feel like I'm wasting away, watching time pass by until I can go to college. I think that's when my life will really begin," I said, biting my tongue when I realized how much of my insanity I'd given away.

Silence. Goody. At least he realized now how much of a psycho I am.


	5. Realization

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the review!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine (as much as I'd like to)**.** Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five: Realization<strong>

Yep, you guessed it, it's 6:30 am again, the damnable trumpets saluting the friggin' flag of Maryland again.

I groaned inwardly at the unwanted wake up call. "I hate this place," I groaned into my pillow as I tried to block out the sound by folding the pillow over my head.

I honestly had no idea where Vincent had slept, if he had slept at all with my tossing and turning.

I felt someone's eyes on me so I guessed either the trumpets woke him up or I did.

"I just have one question, Vincent," I said, lifting my head from the pillow, ignoring the fact that my hair was completely messed up. I noticed he was sitting on my computer chair.

"What's that, Tatiana?" he replied.

"Which one woke you up—the trumpets or me?" I asked sleepily still.

He said nothing for a while. "Neither." As expected I flinched slightly when he spoke again.

I thought I saw a look of hurt briefly pass through Vincent's face but I couldn't tell due to my lack of sleep and aching head from said condition.

I sighed as I buried my head in my pillow.

"And why's that?" I asked, my voice muffled by the pillow.

"Pardon?" he said. Why does he have to be so polite? Does he know that only makes him more irresistible? And I happen to be looking so indecent at the moment, to top it off . . .

I turned my head instead of lifting it to face him. "I said why is it that neither me nor the damned trumpets woke you up."

"Because I never went to sleep," he replied.

I groaned. "You silly head. You could've just told me; it's not like I sleep much anyway, as I'm sure you've noticed. If you wanted to sleep, you should've told me, I would've let you sleep in the bed."

"But that would've hurt your ability to do what your mother asks in the morning," he replied.

I rolled my eyes sleepily. "It's not like it matters, she would've still yelled at me anyway." I sighed. I was trying to cling to sleep as much as I could while being partly conscious for Vincent.

"You look tired, still. How about I wake you up when your mom comes?" he said.

I yawned and turned my face to the other side, facing away from Vincent. "It's not like it matters. When my dad comes back at 7 am you'll know why. He stomps up and down the stairs and argues with my mom. I finally manage to get some sleep but around 9 am they're at it again. I try to get up at 10 am, when he's already long gone to work, but he's been trying to change that, just like my mom. Happens every day except on the weekend. I barely sleep nowadays so I spend most of that time in the morning just laying here, waiting to fall asleep." I yawned again and said, "Vincent, you wouldn't really mind if I went to sleep now, would you?"

"On the contrary, I would encourage that," he said.

"Thanks, Vincent. You're a great guy," I said before falling asleep again.

* * *

><p>7 am-ish<p>

I woke up to hear my dad stomping down the stairs while keeping up a conversation/argument with my mom.

I suppressed a groan and buried my face on the pillow. You know that feeling you get when you're lying in bed and then you notice that it seems like the bed sinking just a little too much under your weight and it turns out there's someone else on the bed with you? Yeah, that's the feeling I got.

I lifted my head up and noticed Vincent was laying on the bed, next to me but a considerable distance from me. I suppressed a laugh as I saw how close to the edge he was.

"Vincent, I'm not going to hurt you if you scoot over so that you're not falling off the bed, you know," I said, trying to not laugh.

He blinked and turned to me. "You're awake," he stated.

"No, really! After all, my dad's making such a racket, I'm surprised you even managed to sleep," I replied. I laid my head back on the pillow and said, "Vincent, scoot over this way. I'm worried you might fall off the bed."

He scooted over just slightly.

I rolled my eyes and buried my face on the pillow. "Have it your way," I muttered airily.

I felt him scoot over just a bit more. "Is this enough?" he asked, something in his tone I couldn't quite place. Irritation? Possibly.

I turned my head and noticed that he was now about a foot away from me. "I don't know; are you still dangerously close to falling over the edge of the bed?" I asked derisively.

"No. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't take that tone with me," he said.

I laughed and shook my head. "As if I had any control over that at this early in the morning," I replied.

I sighed as I turned over and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Once my feet touched the carpet I looked for my mom's earphones from her iPod that I'd taken hostage. I found them and plugged them into my radio. I turned it on and, just my luck, the hit station was playing "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace, one of my uttermost favorite songs on Earth.

That song always made me feel different inside. I always squealed whenever the song came on. This time it was an exception. The part that always gets to me is the guitar part at the beginning. I always squeal at that. My heart feels lighter, and you think I'm crazy. Crazy rabid fangirl, I suppose.

When the song ended, the magic ended. I sighed. In the three minutes that that song plays, I'm happy. But reality is always just a step behind. I turned off the radio and took off the earphones.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed again, but this time I got up to brush my hair. I got some clothes and went to the bathroom to change. I brushed my teeth while I was at it. I managed to get back into my room without anyone from my family seeing me.

_I guess dad went to work, Josh's watching TV, and mom must be cooking or something, _I thought.

I closed the door behind me and just as I sat down on my bed, I realized something. I remembered with excellent detail what had happened the night before Vincent got here.

_OH MY GOD! _I thought. _I _wished _he was here for forever and when I tell him he's going to kill me!_

So there I was, panicking. I just screamed in my head over and over. How could I have _done _this to him?

"No. Freaking. Way," I muttered. _There's no way this happened. Wishes don't come true . . . So how come Vincent Valentine is here?_

"What's wrong?" Dear sweet voice you are going to be _so _angry. I buried my head in my pillow so it muffled my scream.

"Tatiana, what's the matter?" he was alarmed now. Great, just great.

I lifted my head from the pillow and turned to Vincent, who was now sitting next to me.

"Vincent," I said carefully. "We need to talk. And let me tell you right now you're going to be devastated." Unless, you know, everyone else is real and we can get you back there . . .


	6. Embarrassment and the Truth

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the review!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six: Embarrassment and the Truth<strong>

Chapter Six: Embarrassment and the Truth

I lifted my head from the pillow and turned to Vincent, who was now sitting next to me.

"Umm, I kinda figured out how you got here by a recent memory that popped up," I said, hating myself so much for having made the stupid wish, hating whoever granted it and made Vincent hurt so much, and mostly just hated myself. My already low self-esteem was six feet under the ground. It's gonna get lower . . .

"Really? How did I get here, then?" he asked, a slight hint of hope coloring his tone.

I closed my eyes and hope this would all be over in a flash. _Oh, God! I only pray he isn't doesn't hate me!_ I thought miserably.

"It turns out that . . ."

When I was done explaining, I actually wanted him to yell at me. I'd feel so much better. He was completely silent. And then he asked the dreaded question I didn't want to answer.

"Why did you wish that I be here with you?"

_Umm, because I have the hugest crush on you?_ I thought. _This is why I hate honesty. It's such a pain._

I scratched the back of my head and stared at the hideous brown carpet like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

"Well, I just happen to have the biggest crush on you which is partly pardonable but I can't really defend what I did because I'm sure it was the stupidest thing I've done, nothing personal, Vincent, it's just the truth but I'm quite sure that it's the stupidest thing I've done in my entire life which is quite impressive considering the things I've done but why am I rambling to you about unimportant things when you probably want to be alone? I do wonder—you know what? I'm gonna go downstairs so that you can hate me all by yourself and I can go hate myself downstairs, sound like a plan?" I stood and made a beeline for the door.

"You're not going anywhere," he said just as I was reaching the door.

"Okay," I replied too quickly and lay down on my bed, not quite believing I was this stupid for one minute.

_This is a dream turned into a nightmare, that's all_, I thought. _Tomorrow it'll all be over. That's all I have to endure. I'm pretty sure that when I wake up from this dream everything will be back to normal._

"Vincent, please say something," I said. "I'd even be okay with it if you said you were mad at me. I'd actually appreciate that. If you said you were mad. Then I would realize just how bad I screwed up even though I have a good idea of how much."

"I'm not mad at you," he said after thinking for a while.

"Oh, let me guess. You're actually flattered. Yeah, right, Vincent. I know I wouldn't be if some random person took me out of my world and my life just because they had a silly little crush on me," I replied.

"That's where you and I are different, then," he said simply.

"Riiiiiiiiight. Because thaaaat's where you draw the line," I drawled, the words almost slurred. I sat up.

"Vincent, you and I are very different." My voice was back to normal. "You're different from me in a very good way." I smiled softly and chuckled. "In a very, _very_ good way. You don't ignore everyone just for the hell of it, you don't often want people to treat you badly because you just happen to be that masochistic, and you _certainly_ don't want to be alone because you enjoy it."

He was quiet for the longest time, eyeing me cautiously, taking all this information in.

"You don't really believe those things about yourself, do you?" he asked finally. For once I didn't flinch whatsoever.

I looked up at him, lifting my gaze that had been so concentrated on the ground. Those crimson eyes . . . it must've been the color they had that made me lose my train of thought. Or maybe it was the depth to them. Or the emotions they kept so well hidden you must've been staring at them for quite a while to notice them. Or maybe, just maybe, it was all of those put together.

"Yes, I do," I finally answered, and I held his gaze for quite a while just to prove it.

Vincent sighed but a knock on the door cut him off as my brother burst in through the door.

"Woah, he's still here!" my brother exclaimed.

"What do you want?" I asked with a cruel note coloring my tone. I had the perfect glare to match it, too.

"H-hold up there, Tatiana. Dad just wanted to talk to you," my brother said, shuddering slightly under my gaze and he left quickly.

"You didn't really do that on purpose, did you?" Vincent asked.

I grinned wickedly and turned to him. "You wanna bet?" I got up and sauntered out of my room, taking my time walking down the stairs, and stopping next to my dad, all traces of emotion gone.

"Yes, dad?" I said emotionlessly.

He turned his gaze from the TV to me for a fleeting second before saying, "Dishes. I'm tired of seeing them-" and I walked away to go put them in the dishwasher. Mistake.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" I didn't even wince at his volume.

I turned around, faking a look of shame. "I-I'm sorry, dad. I was just going to put them in the dishwasher, like you asked."

"Hmph. You better be."

I turned back around, no traces of the supposed shame left as I put the dishes in the dishwasher.

I hadn't failed to notice the way my mom was looking at me, like I deserved the way dad had yelled at me. Eh. Who cares. I probably did anyway. I stopped caring about what he thought a long time ago. So what if he only sees me as an object to cook and clean? That must've been what he saw me as from the moment I was born. To be filed under the same category my mom was.

For some reason, I'd told her once, "Mom, if you're going to divorce him or something, do it _after_ I've gone to college." And she agreed. That's how comfortable we are when we're talking about stuff like that. Isn't that crazy?

Anyway, when I finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher and set it to actually wash the dishes, I went back upstairs, but when I remembered the little "incident" I had with Vincent earlier, I was kind of hesitant when I opened the door to my room, but decided to pretend nothing happened. I sat down on my bed, looking out the window (I open up the blinds every morning when I wake up).

"I apologize for my behavior earlier," I said, Vincent's formal way of speaking catching on to me. "I realize it was very rude for me to treat you that way especially since it's _my_ fault you're here," I continued.

He seemed to consider it (or at least that's what I assumed from his silence) for a while before he said, "Apology accepted. I have a question for you, as well. Is my way of speaking really that catchy?"

I laughed softly. "I suppose it is. I didn't notice until after I said that that it sounded like the way you speak, though."

"Would you look at me, please?" he said. Why did his voice have to sound so silky? It was hard to concentrate on what he was actually saying when he talked like that. Oh, wait. That's how he talks all the time.

I complied and turned around, facing him rather than the window.

"We haven't finished our discussion from earlier," he noted.

"It was a rather depressing discussion and I don't think there's really anything to add," I replied.

"Well, I do. How about we start with why you're so unhappy with yourself?" he asked, his gaze shifting to stern and slightly frustrated.

Of course, my brother saved me from this. "Hey, Tatiana?"

"What is it, Josh?" I drawled out.

"Mom wants to talk to you," he said. I noticed the contrast in my almost slurry speech and Josh's clear way of speaking.

"All right, tell her I'll be down in a minute," I continued in the same drawl.

"Hey, are you alright, Tatiana?" my brother asked.

"I'm just fine, Josh. You don't need to worry about me, just go tell mom I'll be down in a sec, 'kay?" I drawled once more.

He looked at me weird before he turned and left, calling over his shoulder, "Hey, Vincent, keep an eye on her. She can do stupid things when she's like this."

I merely glared at the spot where my brother had just been standing and saw in the corner of my eye Vincent nod once before he turned to me and said, "We'll talk when you get back."

"All right," I said softly, my tone changing once more. My glare turned to a gaze before I got up slowly and went downstairs to talk to my mom and see what she wanted.

"Ah, laundry," I said as she handed me my folded clothes.

She said something but I couldn't understand it as I walked back upstairs, holding my folded clothes.

I went into my room and put me clothes away. Then I jumped into bed and just lay there.

"Don't fall asleep now; we still have to talk," Vincent said.

"Tomorrow," I replied, waving my hand dismissively at him.

"No, now," he said.

I groaned and sat up. "Okay, okay, what do you want to know?" I said grudgingly.

"What happened to you to make you despise yourself so much?" he asked. I sensed a touch of anger mixed with a tinge of something else I couldn't quite place.

"I know I said I trusted you, but I don't trust you _that_ much. I might have over-shared earlier, but it stops now." I don't think he realized he was pretty much asking me to bare my soul out to him.

I glanced over at him and he was glaring at me.

I sighed. "Unfortunately, I've already piqued your interest, if not worry, and I don't want to push it any farther. Some things are better kept secret. I would think you out of all people would understand that, Vincent. But then again, I suppose I don't really know you." I let that sink in.

_Yet I've told him more than my supposed friends here know about me_, I thought. I didn't consider myself interesting or mysterious. But I did let things slip sometimes, even though I tried not to.

"Tatiana," Vincent said, interrupting my thoughts with his deep silky voice. My gaze immediately turned to him, and of course, I made the mistake of looking into his crimson red eyes.

Good grief, when would I learn that those eyes are basically forbidden? Just one little glance and I was already lost; it felt as if my mind was in disarray and anguish until I looked at his eyes and it all would just disappear. His eyes were better than my little fantasy worlds. They were better tenfold. Millionfold, if that's even possible.

"Tatiana," he said again, noticing I was spacing out.

"What?" I said, blinking and choosing instead to focus on my mirror _behind_ him.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" he asked.

I was about to ask what he was referring to when the last five minutes of conversation crashed down onto me.

"I guess not," I said softly.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice much softer than it had been previously.

He eyed me carefully.

I looked down. I heard him move and then felt him beside me. I continued to eye the carpet, not really sure I wanted to know what he was going to do.

He then softly hugged me, in his strong, warm arms, and yet I couldn't help but feel this moment was wrong. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

I always thought my life wouldn't be the kind to have a happy ending, just fleeting moments of slight happiness and that would be it.

Yet here I was, with someone who wasn't supposed to exist but felt very real to me, like anything else had, like anyone else had, and he was here because I wished he was here. He was here because I had felt like I needed him.

I closed my eyes and buried my face in his chest, returning the embrace feebly. I didn't want to insinuate anything, or seem like I was trying something. I just simply wanted to get the little comfort he was offering. I didn't want to take advantage, as if I ever had a chance to.

I sighed and we stood there like that, for a while. I could swear I was about to fall asleep at the same time I felt completely awake, feeling every single movement he made against my body, even the smallest of them. I was at my most alert. And I didn't want to let go. How was it possible that I was falling in love with him after just two days? It didn't help that I didn't believe in love at first sight. This must've been something else. It could not have been love. Could it?


	7. Insomnia and Joyful Imagination

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the reviews, and adding my story to your fave/alerts~ :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven: Insomnia and Joyful Imagination<strong>

Joyful Saturday! Woooh! No trumpets to wake me up at 6 am! But of course, I woke up on my own, due to slight insomnia.

My eyes slowly opened and I looked at the window. No sunlight.

I blinked a couple times and searched for my phone on my night stand.

I looked at the time and it said 5:15 am. I groaned.

_How the _hell _does one manage to be up at this hour without any wakeup call whatsoever? _I thought.

"Tatiana, are you all right?" said a voice that startled me momentarily. I managed to keep from flinching.

I set my phone down and whispered, "Yes, I'm alright. I just woke up for no reason."

I lay back down on the bed and sighed softly. Closing my eyes, I turned to my left side, the side I always sleep on, and tried to go back to sleep. Sleep claimed me minutes afterward.

My eyes opened once more and I looked out the window. Some sunlight, but not too much.

I got my phone, which happened to be arms' reach from me, and this time the numbers that almost blinded me said 7:45 am.

"I guess that's somewhat of an improvement," I muttered and tried to go back to sleep again.

I felt something pull at my hair lightly. I sighed quietly and turned slowly in the direction of the pull.

There was Vincent, who'd been sleeping in my bed with me for the last five days.

"Did you wake up again?" his melodious voice asked.

I smiled softly. "Yes, I did wake up again. I honestly don't know why, though," I replied. "How did you sleep?"

"Just fine, thank you," he said, the same half smile he'd been giving me these last few days occupying his lips.

"That's good," I said, my eyelids fluttering shut as a sigh escaped my lips.

"You should go back to sleep," he murmured.

"My mind's already a step ahead of you," I mumbled, getting comfortable once more.

The last thing I heard was his soft chuckle before sleep claimed me for the last time this morning.

I woke up with a start.

_That's it for sleeping today, _I thought grimly.

I sighed, and tried to force my eyes open again to no avail.

_Why must it be like this every time I try to wake up? _I thought.

When I finally did get my eyes to open, I couldn't _keep _them open. With a sigh I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"You have difficulty falling asleep, and you have difficulty waking up. Am I correct?" said a voice that startled me.

"Jackpot," I muttered.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that mean you have a sleep disorder?" Vincent asked.

I laughed. "Yes, it would mean that. I have written down all the symptoms I have from different sleep disorders and let me tell you, it ain't looking good for little 'ol me here," I replied, still laughing. I noticed he was sitting once more in my computer chair.

"Why is that funny?" he asked.

"It isn't. To normal people who aren't insane," I replied, getting off the bed and brushing my hair.

I looked at myself in the mirror and I certainly looked like I had a sleeping disorder. Putting the messed up hair aside, my eyes had the darkest circles under them. The rest of my face was ridiculously pale. And my hair was sticking out in every direction. I almost screamed but managed to keep my cool. I pinched my cheeks to get some color working there and brushed my hair. Then I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I went back to my room and got some clothes out (reader's choice, for once), went back to the bathroom and changed.

I looked at myself in the mirror and noted I looked a little better. I splashed cold water on my face and patted it dry. I walked back to my room and sat down on the bed. I ended up laying on it, with the covers up.

"Interesting," I mumbled.

"What is?" Vincent asked.

"I ended up back in bed, as if I was going to sleep again," I said. A light chuckle escaped my lips.

"I am so bored," I said, burying my face in my pillow.

* * *

><p>I had no idea when I fell asleep. All I knew was that I woke up. Probably to the yelling coming from downstairs where my dad was saying something about the TV and my brother's laughter joined it.<p>

I rolled my eyes and noticed Vincent wasn't sitting on the computer chair anymore.

A sigh tumbled off my lips and I got my phone off my night table.

10:42 am. I smiled grimly.

"You know, you sleep a lot," said Vincent.

I burst out laughing. "Are you crazy, Vincent?" I laughed again. "I don't sleep a lot. It's the _lack _of sleep. But I see your point; I barely sleep at night and sleep quite a lot during the day. Hmm. I wonder why that is."

I frowned.

"Strange indeed," agreed Vincent, but there was an almost hidden patronizing edge to his voice.

I glanced up at him. He caught me looking and said, "What?"

"Nothing," I said lightly, almost in a singsong voice. He was showing more of his emotions around me, but I was worried about that. Did that mean he trusted me? Or could it be something else?

Silence. Why was it that's how our conversations ended? I noticed something about him, he asked, I said that it was nothing, and he didn't question it so much?

_Maybe he just figures I'm that weird, _I thought. Then I chuckled at that. _Makes sense._

"What is it?" Vincent asked. I detect: urgency, frustration, and maybe a little anxiety? Really, this man could feel so many things at once.

"Just thinking," I said, still in a singsong voice.

I could just feel the frustration radiating off of him. I glanced at him, and next second, he was standing right by me, the chair moving slightly just a few seconds afterwards.

How did he _do _that? He moved so fast it wasn't even a blur!

"How do you _do _that?" I asked.

"Do what?" he asked.

"How do you move so fast? It's like one second you're on the other side of the room then the next you're over here!" I exclaimed.

When a chuckle rolled off his lips I knew I was amusing him again in such a way that made me feel very small and insignificant.

He must've noticed me sulking because he shook my shoulder gently. "It's not your fault your eyes can't see that kind of movement," he said in an effort to make me feel better.

I didn't shake him off because it felt nice, when he was touching me.

I blinked. Had I just thought it was nice to feel him touch me? I shook my head.

_Not okay, _I thought. _Really not okay._

"What's the matter?" Vincent asked.

"I'm just trying to clear my head," I said, fighting the urge to crawl up underneath the covers and hide. I bit my lip. So childish, yet my resistance was slipping . . .

"What are you doing?" Vincent's curious voice asked.

I hadn't noticed I'd been actually crawling underneath the covers while I was arguing with myself.

"I didn't even notice I was doing that," I muttered.

A chuckle escaped Vincent's lips and I noticed that a half smile had shaped itself on his lips.

*He walked closer to me, and picked me up in his arms.

I bit my lip again. What was he going to do? He wasn't going to-

My thoughts were interrupted by his breath on my face.

His face got closer and closer still, until our noses were almost touching . . .*

A sharp knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Whoops! I let my imagination get ahead of me again. He was still standing where he was when he'd chuckled at me. Silly imagination of mine.

I blinked a couple of times before I went to the door.

"Dishwasher," my brother says before going back to his room.

I nod and go down the stairs. Yes, the dishes. I knew how to do that. Even if being so close to Vincent had made me almost forget my name—even if it was _in my head_—I still knew how to put dishes in a dishwasher.

My thoughts kept traveling back to that fantasy . . . how did I go there, really?

I shook my head. No, those were not appropriate thoughts. I set the dishwasher and its loud noise helped me focus a little bit better. I ran my hand through my hair and walked back upstairs.

I stood in front of my door for a couple of seconds before I opened the door and closed it after me. I sat down on my bed and hugged my pillow to my chest.

Haha, I'm not comfortable, not even in my own room. I smiled sickeningly. This insanity of mine was getting the best of me.

* * *

><p>*Yea no, that <em>so<em> didn't happen xD hahaha


	8. Shopping

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Once again, thanks for the reviews! Also! After this chappie updates will be slower. :( Sorry guys! But I hope you enjoy it!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine**.** Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, and that's something to be thankful for. :D Nor do I own the piece of literature mentioned later in the chapter that shall remain undisclosed for the full effect of the surprise. That is owned by Terre Stouffer.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Shopping<strong>

Shopping. Ugh. That's not a response you usually get from a girl. In all truth, I don't mind shopping. I think it's fun. But shopping with my mom? Ugh. Why? Because she likes me to wear kiddie, bright happy stuff. I don't mind bright or happy, but kiddie? Please.

I'd rather go for a decent deep blue or red shirt. My mom and I agree to just that point. Here's where it goes wrong: she pulls me towards pink and jeans with butterflies and crap on them. I like plain jeans and dark colors. None of that frilly, girly stuff. She calls the jeans I wear "boring jeans." Whatever. As long as she ends up buying what I want, she can say whatever she wants.

So, on a Saturday with not much money to spend and time to kill, my mom and dad decided to go to the mall. I'd rather have spent the morning sleeping in, listening to music, surfing the net, and eating breakfast at lunchtime. Perfect Saturday.

But, my mom is bored plus my dad wants to spend money he doesn't have equals a trip to the mall. Maybe even go see a movie. Don't argue with the math.

They say it's all supposedly for your own good even though you're most likely not going to get something for yourself. Congrats and welcome to my world. It sucks.

Next, the issue of what Vincent was going to do. So far, he hadn't been seen by my mom or dad, but I'd been nervous about the latter.

I recall one night my dad burst through my door, asking what I was doing. I was innocently listening to music and Vincent was sitting on my computer chair-he likes it, so he sits there most of the time. No time to hide Vincent, so I put on a wide smile and said just listening to music. My dad looked at me weird for a second-it's the smile-and then he left.

I closed the door after him and turned to Vincent.

"How does it feel to be invisible to everyone except my brother and me?" I asked, curious.

Vincent shrugged slightly. "I suppose it's better than being stared at all the time."

"Huh," I said. "Good point."

After that, there wasn't that uncomfortable, "What if they see him?" feeling. What worried me now was if I was talking to him, it'd look like I was talking to myself. I already had enough people think I was insane; no need to further prove it!

So I was reluctant when Vincent agreed to come. But I guess it's understandable, after having to stay in my room to hide from my dad to later discover he couldn't see Vincent.

Standing next to the car, the seating problem was bothering us yet again. But now there were 3 seats in the back (dad's driving, mom in the passenger seat).

I turned to Vincent with a sigh.

"Do you want to sit in the middle?" I asked. I mean, he couldn't possibly want to stay sitting in the same seating arrangement. I almost blushed at the thought.

"You say that because if I sat by the door and you in the middle it would be suspicious, correct?" he asked, slightly changing the subject.

"Yes," I said warily. I didn't list the real reason I had suggested that he sit in the middle to avoid undue embarrassment.

"All right, then," he said, and sat in the middle. I climbed in after him, and put my seat belt on. I mean, my _dad _was driving. 80 miles an hour on a 60 zone can be scary unless you've been driven to places that way all your life. And we've come close to crashing, which is scary indeed.

We arrived at the mall faster than was necessary. The thing about this mall is that it's in somewhat of a circle. Like a roundabout, if you could call it that.

We drove around the mall several times before we ended up parking near the food court entrance.

My mom, dad, and I got a cheesesteak each and my brother got a burger.

I'd asked Vincent while no one was looking if he wanted something but he said no and just ate some of my fries. I guess he can't afford to get fat in that leather clothing, but how does he stand it during _summer_?

We threw away our trash and walked around the mall a total of three times whilst my mom bought a couple of things and I just tried not to gravitate towards Hot Topic, though it was difficult. How would I tell my mom just how far I'd crossed over to the Dark Side?

Anyways, my mom bought some blazers and a fiery red jacket. I decided not to tell her how . . . bright and hurtful to the eyes it looked because she liked it.

Eventually my mom got stuck in a shoe store (for the second time), my dad was in an electronics shop and my brother was in game shop, so I had time for myself.

"Is there anywhere in particular you'd like to go?" I asked Vincent discreetly so that no one would no notice I was somewhat talking to myself.

"No," he replied smoothly.

"Just out of here?" I said knowingly.

He slowly nodded.

"Okay," I said, and turned to walk in the direction of a store that I knew was somewhat quiet.

Book store! Not that many people were in that store, and they were usually quiet.

"'Tis a bookstore, as thee can see," I whispered. "It's the quietest place there is in the mall."

Vincent nodded silently and we went in.

I hid in between the rows of books and took a random book from the shelves to start reading. Somehow I ended up reading the Idiot's Guide to Harry Potter. I guess it's what I get for not paying attention to what I randomly pick up. Whatever. They had some spells written in here I actually didn't know about. Hmmm.

Eventually I saw the shadow of someone being cast over me.

I look up to see Vincent.

"Nothing piqued your interest?" I asked quietly.

"Nothing quite as much as you breaking the law," Vincent said with a hint of amusement in his voice. His eyes twinkled the way they usually did when I amused him.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Fine, then."

I stuck the book somewhere where I thought it went and stalked out of there, hearing Vincent's soft chuckle echo in my ears.

Sometimes he could be so patronizing. I honestly didn't expect it. I mean, it's _Vincent_ _Valentine._ The quiet one. The stoic, calm, mysterious one. Not the patronizing, confusing, sometimes frustrating one.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the caller I.D. _Mom_.

I held back a groan and answered the still-vibrating phone.

"Moshi moshi!" I said.

"Moshi moshi!" my mom replied, laughing. "We're going to leave now. Where are you?"

"The book store. You're still at that one shoe store, right?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few," I replied.

"All right. Bye now," she said.

"Sayonara!" I said, and hung up.

I looked around to not find Vincent anywhere. Maybe he was just a figment of my imagination? But I wouldn't imagine him so irritating. My imaginative creations didn't necessarily always follow their script . . .

"Looking for someone?" I heard a silky deep voice with heavy amusement.

I turned around to face him. "Not funny."

Then I turned around and left, getting weird looks from the passerby. Screw them. I heard the metal clicks on the floor to prove Vincent was indeed following me. Metal shoes; aren't those even more uncomfortable than leather clothing in the summer?

I quickly made my way through the crowds and into the shoe store to find my mother in line with a box in her hand.

I sighed. I knew now she was a shopaholic, but she hid it so well in my early years I would've never suspected it.

When she paid, we got in the car. The ride home was eerily silent.

"I bought you some clothes," my mom finally said.

"Is that right?" I muttered. "That was nice of you," I said more coherently.

"Don't worry; I bought things you like and that would still be within the school dress code," she clarified.

"Thank you," I said flatly.

"Try and mean it," Josh scoffed.

I ignored him.

When we arrived home, I took all the bags my mom told me were full of my clothes and went inside.


	9. School

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the review and adding to story alert guys! :D

Sorry for the long wait; but this chappie's longer than most so hopefully that'll make up for it~!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine: School<strong>

I didn't even think Vincent would say anything about it. I mean, it's _school_. If I don't go cops hunt my parents down and give them a warning. Second time I don't go and I will be packing my bags and moving in with a "more responsible" family.

Besides, it's not like my parents would actually let me skip school. It would be a huge offense to them if I skipped school and then blamed them. But it's not like I haven't played hooky before. It's just that my ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend took the blame (that's not why he's a "double ex," though). And of course, everybody believed him. Idiots.

Anyway, back to the subject: Vincent's reaction. It was quite surprising.

"Vincent, you do know that I have school to go to, right?" I asked him after the dreadful shopping spree we had.

Well, I guessed he didn't, because he sort of dropped all the bags had been holding (my mother insisted I get mostly school colors) and slowly turned around to face me.

"What?" It was just one word. Just one. Yet his expression had been the dead giveaway. Shock. Confusion. And like his suspicions had been confirmed.

I laughed slightly on the awkward side, pretending I hadn't noticed all these things. It still surprised me, the way he let his emotions show after knowing me for only a month.

"Relax. It's nothing for you to worry about. You can stay here and be driven to insanity, if you'd like, or you can go around base and look around-what's wrong?" I said. He'd slowly sat down on my computer chair, his eyes slightly wider than usual.

This couldn't just be about me going to school, could it?

"Vincent?"

He turned around slightly to look at me, and his expression changed. He was frowning now.

"For who long are you in school?" he inquired.

"Um, from 8 am to 3 pm. Why do you ask?" I said just as warily, sitting down carefully on my bed.

"You're in school for 8 hours," he stated.

"Yes. But I'm allowed to leave campus for lunch, which is 30 minutes," I informed.

"How many days a week?" he further questioned.

"5. Vincent, do you know what school is?" I said. And in that instant, I knew it. He wasn't sure what it was. Goodness, why did he have to be so easy to read when he wanted to be?

"I'm not sure," he said, "but I have an idea of what you do there."

I sighed. "They teach us things there. Things like Math, History, different languages and such," I explained. "Are you following so far?"

"Define different languages," he said.

"Well, doesn't Midgar speak a different language from Wutai?" I said, trying to use an example he'd understand.

"Just exactly how much do you know of my world?" he asked.

"Quite a lot," I said. "Anyways, depending on where you are in _my_ world, people speak a different language, which I believe is the same with _your_ world."

"Hn." And he didn't question school anymore.

* * *

><p>I was wary of him for the next couple of days. He didn't talk much, or rather he talked less than he used to, and he didn't show as many emotions as he used to.<p>

"So," he said emotionlessly one day. "When do you have to go to this school of yours?"

I'd stopped moving and had accidentally dropped the notebook I was carrying. I whirled around to face him. You see, he hadn't said anything directly to me since the school incident.

"Next week," I said. He nodded and the one and a half sentence conversation we had was over.

* * *

><p>Vincent remained silent as ever the night before school started.<p>

I went along with my business as if though he wasn't there for his and my sake.

He didn't need to know I was more concerned with him than school. He didn't need to know I was constantly racking my brains for a way to make it up to him. And he was certainly better off thinking the reason I was sleeping less than usual was because of school and not my worry over him.

So I pretended everything was fine, which I had quite the practice with.

"Would you like me to get you something to eat, Vincent?" I asked.

"No, thank you," he replied.

I nodded and checked my school bag to make sure everything I needed was in there. I sighed as I felt tears well up in my eyes. I hated that he wasn't talking to me. Why did he have to be like this? I wouldn't be going to school if I could help it.

I shook it off and got my flute out. Nothing ever helped me more than music.

I played and played until my lips felt like they were going to fall off. I played the music from last year (sophomore year) and the year before (freshman year).

I looked at my 7th grade music, the last music I had from Texas. I started to play some of it but the memories were too painful. I'd had all my life planned there. I had even thought of which college I'd go to.

I sighed as I pushed those thoughts out of my mind.

I swabbed my flute out, polished it and put it away. I curled up underneath the covers of my bed and just lay here, trying not to look at the most gorgeous man alive who happened to be maybe 15 feet away from me? Yeah, that sounds about right.

"That was beautiful," said most gorgeous man stated, startling me and reminding me of his usual silence.

"Thank you," I murmured. I couldn't even chance looking at him; I'd probably start crying. I felt so pathetic.

"Did they teach you that in that school of yours?" he asked.

"Mm-hm," I replied.

"They must have good teachers, then," he commented. I thought I could hear that half-smile in his voice again . . . but I wasn't about to check.

"I suppose so," I murmured. Pathetic, pathetic. If I let my voice rise from a murmur I was sure it would break and the tears would flow. Yep, definitely pathetic. Depressing, maybe even sad excuse for a human. I don't know.

I figured he had run out of small talk so I went downstairs, just to get away from the cause of my gloom.

Bad move, because I had to do the dishes! But that was alright. At least it gave me something to do.

After a while of washing dishes, I heard light footsteps down the stairs.

My heart fluttered at the possibility of who that might be but I paid no mind to it.

I served myself some cereal and sat down to eat it in the dining room (which is half-dining room, half-living room) and my suspicions were correct.

There he was; the object of my affection and current gloom, Vincent Valentine.

I forced myself to ignore him and focus on the light murmur coming from the TV, my brother and dad watching it while my mom checked her email on her laptop. (Does technology not own our minds or what?)

My brother and mother spared me a glance, but my brother's gaze lingered on Vincent, who was just standing there, in the middle of the room, looking out of place with the surroundings.

Soon my brother turned back to the TV, shaking his head.

I pursed my lips as I took my now-empty bowl and spoon to the sink and washed them.

"No way, now how! Tatiana's washing the dishes! Ha! This is something I've _got _to see!" exclaimed my dad as he jogged, rather sluggishly, much to my disgust, to see me finish washing the bowl and spoon and setting it aside to dry.

I forced a smile at my dad before going up to my room.

"Where ya going? I wasn't done making fun of you!" called my dad from down the stairs.

I resisted the urge to flip him off (he's my dad, hello) and stated simply, "I'm going to bed."

"Also a rarity, you going to bed early! You sure you're not sick or something?" continued my dad.

I stopped in front of my door and said, "Yes dad, I'm sure."

With that, I walked into my room, turned off the light closed the door and plopped down on the bed, with the covers up to my neck in the middle of summer. Call me crazy. My dad kept the house under 70 degrees Fahrenheit; what did you expect?

Anyways, shortly after, I heard the door open and close. My eyes had enough time to adjust so I noticed who came in. I turned over on the bed, facing my window whose blinds I'd already closed.

"Are you alright?"

Goodness gracious, how many different ways are there to phrase the same question.

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied, closing my eyes and trying to go to sleep.

The bed sunk a little so I guessed Vincent was on it now. I sighed and buried my head in the pillow mournfully.

Jeez, why did this have to be so hard? He hadn't slept on the bed since I'd told him about school.

"Tatiana," he said with a clear voice. It rang in my ears a couple of times. I lifted my head out of the pillow, eyes closed.

"Yes?" I said with very little emotion.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"About what?" I asked, with still very little emotion.

"You know what," he said. I could imagine him frowning now.

I opened my eyes out of habit and noticed his eyebrows furrowed.

"No, I don't," I said with a sigh. "Care to refresh my mind?"

I suppose you could say this was payback, making him admit it like this, but I was worried my oh-so-great plan wouldn't work.

He sighed. "I'm sorry for ignoring you," he said warily.

"You were ignoring me?" That wasn't faked surprise. I thought he was just simply not talking to me.

He eyed me carefully. "You didn't notice?" he questioned.

"Well, I thought you were just not talking to me, but I guess you were ignoring me," I replied, laughing.

His frown deepened. "Why is that funny?"

I shrugged as my laughter died away. "I don't know. Anyways, you're forgiven."

He nodded but still eyed me like I would explode in a second.

I turned to my other side, facing away from Vincent as I tried to fall asleep.

* * *

><p>Come morning, I'd slept quite the hours. I fell asleep around 10 pm and woke up at 6:30 am due to my lovely alarm on my cell phone.<p>

I slapped my hand over it, flipped it open, pressed End, and closed it. With a sigh, I threw off the covers.

Senior year in high school, first day. The sun should be shining brightly, right?

Wrong! It was as cloudy as hell and it was supposed to rain all day. I could hear it lightly falling as it hit the roof.

I rubbed my eyes, took my clothes from my computer and stalked to the bathroom. I changed and splashed my face with cold water against all instincts. My immediate reaction was to shiver a little and I patted my face dry with a towel.

I brushed my teeth and went back to my bedroom to brush my hair.

I noticed Vincent was up and running. He even made the bed.

"Vincent, you don't have to do that," I said.

He looked up at me but I was looking at his reflection on my mirror so that his eyes wouldn't dazzle me as much.

"I wanted to," he replied simply.

"Okay," I said derisively. I finished tying my hair in a high pony tail and put some starry earrings on. I also wore a silver ring and silver necklace with a locket on it (courtesy of my grandma).

"You look nice," Vincent commented.

I rose and eyebrow and felt my face get hotter. "Thanks."

I looked through my school bag again, making sure everything was in there-for the umpteenth time-and I finally put some shoes on.

I added a little lip balm so that my lips wouldn't chap and that's when my mom burst through the door.

"Why are you up so early?" she asked warily.

"Woman, you do remember it's the first day of school?" I asked comically.

My mom grinned. "Just testing ya."

I smiled back, not feeling as excited.

"Oh, come on, cheer up! This year you get to _drive _to school since we finally came up with enough money to buy you a car," she said.

"And worry about traffic, running over people, crashing into other cars, turning at the wrong intersections or taking the wrong exit-yeah, that's the stuff to be cheerful about," I said with a sarcastic smile.

I thought I hear Vincent chuckle. That made my smile a little more genuine and my mom noticed.

"That's the spirit! No seriously, it's going to be a great year for you."

"Mm-hmm," I replied, fixing my hair so that not a single strand was out of place only to have my bangs fall back into my face.

"I can feel it in my bones, sweetie. And you know when I feel it in my bones-"

"It is sure as heck going to be true," I finished for her.

I flashed her a smile. "Yes, I know."

"And no cussing," she reminded me.

"Mm-hmm," I said. It didn't promise anything.

"I'm serious," my mom said.

"I know," I replied.

She eyed me warily and then left.

I rolled my eyes as soon as I closed the door (why don't people in this house close the door after leaving the room?!).

"Your mom seems to be more excited about this than you are," Vincent commented, eyeing me with an amused twinkle in his eyes.

"That's nothing new," I muttered, lying back down on my bed.

I could just picture him smiling slightly.

"Anyway, I've got five minutes before I have to go get in the car to drive to school. It takes me two minutes to get to school. Do you want to come with or are you going to stay here?" I said.

"Quite frankly I hadn't decided what I wanted to do for today. You did mention a couple of weeks ago I could look around," he said.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know if you're one of those people who needs to look around and know their surroundings well before getting accustomed to the place they're in, so I said that. I guess the only challenge would be if you wanted to come back here the house would be locked. If you're feeling up to it you could climb the window after leaving it open. It's really up to you," I said, sounding really stupid.

Vincent nodded.

"Well, I'm off to school now." I wrapped my arms around his waist for a brief second before leaving the house.

* * *

><p>School basically crawled by. Time didn't feel like getting a move on today, which I found interesting. I was getting ready to scream by the time it was lunch. Then I felt a tug.<p>

It was only slightly painful, but all I could think of was Vincent. My eyebrows furrowed. Now, why would I think of him? Nothing _could_ be happening to be him, could it?

"Tatiana, are you okay?" my self-proclaimed best friend Caitlin asked.

"Yeah," I answered, my voice sounding strange. The tug was inside me. Sort of alternating between squeezing my heart and making my stomach do flip flops.

_Vincent, whatever the hell you're doing, you should know not to continue,_ I thought. _I'm serious. I don't like this nervous feeling. I've never been so worried before. _Stop _it._

The feeling went on for another 10 seconds before it stopped.

"Are you sure?" Caitlin questioned.

"Mm-hmm," I said, and continued eating the random food of the day: disgusting pizza with what one of the kids in our crew, Eddie AKA Caitlin's ex, believed to "not be cheese." It did look like plastic, I'll have to admit. It sure didn't taste like it, though.

My ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend that I previously mentioned, Camden, asked, "So nothing's wrong?" I always get the feeling he still has feelings for me. But he's back with the girl he was going out with before me, so that'd be stupid.

"No, everything's fine," I said, taking the last bite of the disgusting pizza before throwing the rest away. _Everything's fine _now_. I wonder what he was doing. I'll have to ask him when I get home._

* * *

><p>Blah, blah, blah, classes crawled by, then the end of the school day! Yayness! Of course, when I finally reach my locker, who's standing there? Camden! What a surprise, ne?<p>

"Hey," I said, my heart betraying me and slightly skipping a beat. It was guilt, though. Camden was _taken_, and I have an inhumanly beautiful man waiting for me at home.

"Hey," he replied, and stood aside while I opened my locker to shove stuff inside it and then put some in my backpack.

"What's up?" I asked.

"What was that about at lunch?" he asked.

I stopped my movements only briefly before closing my locker, zipping my backpack closed, and swinging it over my shoulder.

He knew me so well it bothered me.

"Don't you have a girlfriend to be waiting for?" I asked him, trying to ignore the fact that it still pained me to say that. Though we ended on what you would call good terms, it still hurt to remember the good times we had. We had dated from the end of 10th grade to the end of 11th grade. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to deal with this now that summer had ended, but I stood corrected.

He stared directly into my eyes, and I couldn't force myself to look away. He was the only one in this entire school who could say he knew me. I had let him "in" and shown him, well, basically what you'd call my "soul." I'd poured my heart out to him countless times and vice versa. One could say we were bound, but I wanted that to end now. We weren't together anymore, so why couldn't he get a move on?

"Carissa has nothing to do with this," he murmured, and stood closer to me. For some odd reason, he only got bolder after we broke up. He wasn't afraid to get close to me, not even physically. It was somewhat disturbing in this particular case.

"Camden," I began, walking backwards a little.

"You know, I never stopped loving you," he murmured, and then he lightly caressed my face.

"Stalker-ish, but I can't say the same," I said.

His light blue eyes flickered to mine and the back of his hand was still pressed against my cheek. His hands were always so cold.

"You found someone else over the summer." It wasn't even a question.

"What makes you think so?" I asked.

"It usually drove you crazy when I touched you and you never backed away from me. You always got closer." He murmured the last sentence.

"Camden, you are aware that this is a _very bad idea_?" I said, walking backwards a little more when he tried to get closer to me again. "You have a _girlfriend_!" I whispered. "And she loves you."

"Stalker-ish, but I can't say the same," he quoted, a half-smirk on his face.

"One, you can't call what she does stalking you cuz she's your _girlfriend_ so she's supposed to be around you. And two, you _do_ love her, you rotten liar!" I said.

"Why do you think I quoted you?" he said.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "You must think you're so smart. Camden, I _did_ 'find' someone over the summer, and you have _a girlfriend_ whom you love. So, cut out this nonsense and just _go home_."

A brief look of hurt flashed across his face before he wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my hair.

"I can't stand her, Tatiana," he whispered in my ear, and I could swear the boy I've never, ever seen cry was going to start crying. "She's not _you_."

"Then you should tell her that you don't want to be with her anymore," I said, trying to pry him off me but not succeeding.

I sighed and lightly patted his blond head. Then I did something I probably shouldn't have; I nuzzled his neck the way I used to that always made him feel better.

"You're going to figure something out, Camden," I whispered in his ear. "You just need to give it time."

When he finally pulled away, his eyes were bloodshot and his nose was pink. He really _was_ about to cry.

"Camden, please don't," I whispered.

He tried to smile.

I pulled him back into another hug. I hated it when he got like this. I only wish he did it on purpose so that I could be mad at him for it, but he really didn't do it on purpose.

This time, I rubbed his back while I nuzzled his neck. "Shh."

He sniffled.

"Shh, sweetie, it'll be fine. You'll figure something out," I whispered, and simply held him to me. I honestly didn't think he'd be so bent out of shape after we broke up. He wasn't the type to get so hung up over something.

He nuzzled my neck and it didn't quite feel right.

"What's he like?" he mumbled.

"Who?" I asked.

"The guy you met over the summer," he asked with a bitter tone to his voice.

"He's great," I replied simply. "Right now you need to calm down."

"If he hurts you-"

"Don't worry, he won't," I cut him off, gently let him go.

I smiled at him.

"If he does, though, you just let me know. I'll kick his ass," Camden said.

I smiled disdainfully. _As if_. "No worries. Your assistance will not be necessary. So, off you go."

He narrowed his eyes at me slightly. "I love you."

I sighed. "Camden, _what_ are you trying to do _now_?"

"I want to know if you still love me," he replied.

"I don't," I said.

He stared long and hard at me.

"Whoever this guy is, he's lucky," he muttered, and kissed my cheek before he left.

I rolled my eyes and smiled before leaving the school FINALLY.

* * *

><p>When I got home, I went directly up to my room to find Vincent sitting on the bed.<p>

"Is everything alright?" I asked him as I set my backpack down, took my computer chair, and rolled it over to sit across from him.

He didn't answer me. Instead, he stared at my carpet.

"Vincent?" I asked, and stood to stand in front of him, a little worried.

He finally looked up, but there was shame in his eyes.

"Vincent, what's wrong?" I asked him again, taking his face in my hands. He had such marble smooth skin.

He sighed. "Did you feel anything around noon today?" he asked.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Funny that you ask, actually. I did feel . . . something. Did something happen to you?"

He sighed again, took my hands from his face, and pulled me down gently to sit next to him on the bed.

"I went out like you said, but after a while, I started to feel . . ." he trailed off, seeming to try to find the right words. "Somewhat like I was dying."

My eyes widened only slightly as I leaned into him, placing my right hand on his face again. "But you're alright?"

He nodded slightly. "It just felt . . . strange."

I had a haunting feeling this had to do with my silly wishing him into existence.

I frowned. "Where'd you go?"

"I went from your house to this place called the PX," he replied.

"Oh!" I said. "That's almost 2 miles from the school," I murmured.

"You think distance has to do with this?" he asked quietly.

"Possibly, seeing as how . . ." I trailed off, hoping he'd get the hint.

"Your wish," he said.

"Yeah," I whispered. _I'm so stupid,_ I thought. Why? _Why_ did I wish him into existence? Never mind; don't answer that.

"You were . . . better off in that video game . . . weren't you?" I whispered.

"Don't say that," he said, and wrapped his arms around me carefully.

I smiled slightly as I buried my face in his chest. We stayed like that for a while until I heard a knock on my door.

I suppressed a groan whilst Vincent reluctantly let go of me.

"What is it?" I drawled out, and my brother popped into view.

"Hey-oh sorry, did I interrupt anything?" he said as he stepped into my room.

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

"I have a question on something from my homework, but . . ." he trailed off, gesturing towards his room. I sighed and followed him out.


	10. The Portal

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the reviews and adding this story to your alerts and favorites, koiketsudayou! :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten: The Portal<strong>

_Sometimes I need to remember just to breathe_

_Sometimes I need you to STAY AWAY FROM ME!_

_Sometimes I'm in disbelief I didn't know_

_Somehow I . . . need you to go_

_Don't stay_

_Forget our memories, forget our possibilities_

"Hey Tatiana?" I heard at my door before Don't Stay by Linkin Park got to the 3rd line of the chorus.

I sighed and turned in my computer chair to see my brother after pressing pause on my iPod.

"Yes?" I said, annoyed.

Lookie there, Josh was at my door, a slightly uncomfortable look on his face.

When he remained silent I raised my eyebrows at him, slightly impatient.

"Today, Josh," I snapped.

"I have a problem," he said.

"Everyone has problems. Be glad you only have one," I said.

He looked away uncomfortably. "That's . . . not what I meant."

I sighed. "Sit," I said, gesturing towards the bed.

"Where's Vincent?" he asked, looking around curiously.

"He's looking around," I said vaguely, turning to face him.

Okay, so I might've not been exactly welcoming towards my brother and the black liner and black fingerless gloves plus Linkin Park _probably_ didn't help the intimidating image, but he still came to me, didn't he?

"Hello, earth to Josh," I said to him as he continued to look around my room after sitting down.

"Sorry," he said. "I just . . . there's this girl."

"There always is," I said, and gestured for him to continue, nodding.

"And I really like her and she likes me," he said.

"Buuut?" I asked.

"But she already has a boyfriend," he finished.

"Mmm, toughie. I'll tell you this from experience; _don't_ break them up," I said.

His eyebrows furrowed. "You mean the thing with Camden?"

I winced.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Yes, that. It's amazing that it lasted as long as it did. But that doesn't mean that that's how it's going to work for you."

"But," he began.

"No buts. I know this probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but trust me, it's not worth it. Don't go telling me 'we're different' because you're not. I know you're probably just going to ignore what I'm telling you and do whatever you want, but just know that I warned you."

He sighed and nodded.

"What you _can_ do is stay away from her, give yourself other things to occupy your time with until it fades. However long it'll take. You really don't want to break them up. If they're happy together, let them be."

"She says she's _not_," he told me hesitantly.

I pressed my lips together. "What do you think Camden told _me_?" I murmured. "He told me I made him happier than Carissa did. His honesty notwithstanding, it would've been better for him if we _hadn't_ gotten together."

"Notwithstanding?" he asked.

I sighed. "It's the same thing as saying 'nevertheless,'" I explained.

"Ah," he said, and nodded slowly in such a way I knew he still didn't get it.

"So, when's Vincent going to be back?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know," I said, knowing I got a faraway look as I stared out the window. Well, not really, because the blinds were closed, so I guess I was just staring _at_ the window.

"Mkay," he said, nodding. Then the sigh. "Thanks for your help. I hope he comes back soon."

I nodded. Then as he left and shut the door behind me, I changed the song on my iPod to Easier to Run by Linkin Park, then jumped on my bed, buried myself in the covers, and closed my eyes.

* * *

><p>When I woke up (2 hours later) my iPod had turned itself off and Vincent wasn't in sight. I sighed and buried my face in my pillow.<p>

Then the door opens, or so I assume cuz I can hear it and whoever it is shuts the door behind him.

I look up and see Vincent. I can't help but smile, especially since he has a glass of orange juice in his hand.

"Here," he says, handing it to me.

"Thank you," I reply, and slowly drink it after sitting up.

He sat down in my computer chair.

"So, where'd you go today?" I asked him conversationally.

He remained silent, but I could tell he was just gathering his thoughts, trying to figure out how to word it.

"I went into the forest," he began.

"Mmmhmm," I replied, and drink another sip of meh OJ.

"And?" I prompted when he wouldn't say any more.

"And I found something rather peculiar there," he finished, giving me a careful glance.

I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. Seriously, I doubted I'd ever tire of their gorgeous crimson red color.

"What was it?" I asked him after a while, and broke the spell by drinking some more orange juice and gazing at my brown carpet, despite the fact that all I wanted to do was lose myself in his eyes.

"Well . . ." he trailed off.

"Vincent, it's okay if you don't want to tell me," I said, looking up at him.

He glanced at me and went back to looking at the spot next to me.

He sighed slightly. "I saw Yuffie come out of what seemed to be a portal very similar to the one I tumbled out of when I ended up here in your room."

Silence. "Alright," I said carefully. "And?"

"She said that the portal is probably what got me here, and that I should go back," he said slowly.

"Naturally; of course. You've been here for a month but that doesn't mean that's how much time has passed in _your_ world," I said a little too rushed. I couldn't keep faking to be calm anymore. It was really showing. I tried to take deep breaths while maintaining it discreet which didn't work.

"I know this is probably hard to hear, but . . ." he trailed off.

"Do you want to go back?" I asked him and pressed my lips together.

Silence. "Not unless . . ." he said slowly. "You come with me."

* * *

><p>I couldn't imagine why he'd want me to come with him. It's not like he developed feelings for me, right?<p>

I remained silent.

"I know you dislike your life here," he continued in the same slow format, "so maybe it would be a good idea for you to come with me."

For some reason I felt like crying. What about Josh? We had just finally started to work out our "sibling relationship" problems. But I didn't want to take him with me if when I chose to go. The cliché reason being it would be too dangerous. He'd probably think it's cool and would be all for leaving, but I couldn't let him.

I guess I was too engrossed in my thoughts to notice that Vincent was standing in front of me now, seeing as how I didn't react until I noticed he'd brushed my hair out of my face.

I closed my eyes. I needed time to think. While I was more than willing to just go and "run away to paradise" with Vincent there were not only the things that would happen here if I left, but also the problems I would face if when I went to his world.

"Vincent," I began.

"It's alright," he said. "I understand you need time to think about it."

I opened my eyes and found that he wasn't there anymore. I let the tears flow freely.

* * *

><p>I kept crumpling the piece of paper and beginning a new one. If I was going to up and leave, I might as well write a note, right? It's just that none of it was good enough. I had a few drafts that I could take some of the material from, but the rest just failed me.<p>

I had stolen the box of tissues and had a pile of those too in my trash can.

_Concentrate_, I thought. _This is the last bit of communication I'll have with them. What could I possibly have to say that would be the most important? Now is the time to write what I've always thought, but I have to word it in a nice way._

Vincent zoomed in from the window. I guess he found the trick to that.

"Hey," I whispered, refusing to use a louder tone of voice in case my voice betrayed me.

He stood next to me.

"The portal is going to close in two days," he said.

I nodded and pressed my lips together, staring at the currently blank white sheet of paper. I knew it wasn't going to stay open forever anyway, and I'd honestly been planning for it to close in _one_ day, so I guess I had a little time to fool around with this "last note" business until I got it right.

He took my hand and gently tugged so that I would stand up and follow him.

We were sitting on my bed now.

"What is it?" I whispered.

He gently brushed my hair out of my face, but at least my eyes and skin were back to their normal color now.

"I just," he began, then he sighed. "I wanted to try something."

I nodded slowly. "Alright. So try it."

He slowly, hesitantly leaned in, and we kissed.

His lips were very, very soft. His gloved hand slowly reached back until it was by my ear, and he gently pulled me a little closer.

His lips moved against mine in a wondrous, otherworldly way. I gently moved mine against his so that our lips were in sync.

Then he pulled away slowly.

We sat there in silence while he held my hand in his.

I cleared my throat. "I already made my decision, it's just that there's some business I have to take care of before . . ."

"Before?" he prompted in that smooth voice of his.

"Before I go with you," I say carefully, smiling.

Those lips of his curved into a full smile before he pulled me to him into the most comfortable, warm hug _ever_. I wrapped my arms around his waist and we just stayed like that for a while.

After an incalculable amount of time (it was probably maybe ten minutes really, but it felt like a really long time), he slowly stroked my hair. I closed my eyes.

I just sat there, listening to his heartbeat.

After a while he stopped stroking my hair and he gazed down at me.

"You said there was some business to take care of?" he asked.

I scrunched my eyes before opening them and looking up at him. "Yeah," I said resignedly.

He slightly raised an eyebrow so as to tell me to continue.

"I thought it'd be a good idea to at least leave them a note," I whispered.

He nodded slightly.

"And I've been working on it but not much seems to strike me as good," I finished.

"Alright. Let's see what you've got so far," he said, and he gently removed my arms from around him before we got up and headed over to my desk.

"See, this seems to work and this seems to work but . . ."

* * *

><p>I sighed. Well, now that <em>that's<em> over with.

I was sitting in my computer chair while Vincent was on my bed.

"Question," I said.

Vincent gaze was on me.

"Do we wait until the last day the portal's open or . . . do we leave earlier?" I asked.

"Well, Yuffie tells me that the closer it is until the portal closes, the more the risk there is with things you're taking with you to be lost in the . . . dimension, I suppose, in which the portal transports you from this world to mine," he explained.

"Oh alright," I murmured. "So should we leave tomorrow?"

"If I may," he said.

"Yeah sure, go ahead," I said, gesturing for him to continue.

"It's . . . probably best if we leave tonight. I don't want you to suffer more than what you'll already have to, because even though you dislike your life here, there _are_ things you're bound to miss," he said to me.

I nodded. "I can . . . understand that. Alright. So . . . should I pack my things?"

"As much as I hate to tell you this, it's probably best if you bring the most nondescript clothing. Just so that no one's too suspicious," he said carefully.

"Mmm; like you wearing leather in summer? Got it," I said. "Fortunately no one aside from my brother and I actually _see_ you, so everything was fine, hmm?"

I got up and went to my closet, looking through and getting a few all my jeans plus a few shirts that weren't _too_ flashy.

I folded all my clothes; got the suitcase I still had in my closet from our latest trip to New Jersey, and set it down on my bed.

I sighed slightly and just before I began putting the clothes in the suitcase Vincent stood next to me and turned me to him.

Then he pressed his lips to mine slightly and muttered, "I'll be back in a bit." Then he left.

"Okay," I whispered, a bit taken off guard but that was fine with me. So I took that time he wasn't here to get my underwear, fold it and put it in the suitcase. Then I took the clothes I had already folded and put those in there too. I decided to take two pairs of shorts, three T-shirts for sleep, and two pair of long pants for when it got cold. I left some room for my absolute favorite books, and then that was all the room in the suitcase.

I laughed slightly and zipped it up. Then on the "lid," as I call it, of the suitcase I fit in a really thick notebook and a bag of pencils and pens (for when I got bored and decided to either write or doodle).

After I zipped that up I went to go take a shower.

I took one of our "spare" toothbrushes and "spare" toothpaste, you know, the travel size. Then I went back to my room and placed them in the top . . . compartment, I guess, of the "lid" of the suitcase. Then I remembered my hairbrush and deodorant. I brought some of my jewelry and only brought lip gloss. As much as I loved my makeup, it was going to have to stay.

I was wearing jeans, a regular shirt, a jacket, and my skater shoes. Not that I ever skated.

I sighed and sat down on my bed. It was now 7, almost 8 pm.

"Vincent, where are you?" I murmured.

As if on cue, he zoomed in through the window.

"Do you have everything?" he asked.

I nodded slightly and patted my suitcase.

"And the note?" he asked.

I pointed to the top of my laptop, which was currently closed. On it laid the note.

"Alright then. Let's go," he said, and he took my suitcase and zoomed on down. Then he took my hand, hugged me to him, and we jumped out the window. I somehow managed to hold back a scream.

We landed softly so no one would notice that I was outside.

"I'll close the window," he said, and after he jumped back down again, he hugged me to him again, held the suitcase in his other arm, and we ran at a speed I didn't even know was possible.

Unfortunately, I sort of let a few tears out but other than that everything was fine.

"We're here," he said, and he gently set my down and my suitcase.

I took it, sighed for the last time, and then as I followed him, I noticed this dark purple-black hole just floating in the air.

"Has anyone else found this? I mean, it's just off the trail so I suppose someone could have found it and gotten sucked into it," I said.

"No one's found it. Yuffie and I made sure no one would be able to see it unless they knew what they were looking for," he replied.

"Okay," I said.

He looked back to me. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? There's no guarantee you'll ever be able to go back."

I nodded. "I'm sure."

He kissed me softly before he took my hand and with his other hand he expanded the dark hole. Inside it was purple and had streaks of red and white sparkles. It honestly reminded me of all the pictures of the galaxy I've seen in all the science classes I've ever taken. Then we stepped through it and we were in this world no more.

_The note:_

_I'm leaving you. Let's get that out of the way. I'd tell you not to look for me because you won't be able to find me, but that would be a waste of time._

_I'm leaving and I'm not coming back. EVER. If you want, you can tell people I killed myself because I did in fact leave for a better place. You won't be able to reach me because I'm not in this world anymore._

_I know you won't understand, but just know not to look for me._

_You can do whatever you want with my stuff; donate it, give some of it to Josh; whatever you want._

_Know that I love you guys, and that I'll never forget you. I know it'll be close to impossible to move on with your life, but you have to. If you won't do it for yourselves, do it for me. I know at some point you'll be angry at me, but this is what I have to do. I don't belong here._

_Enjoy life to the fullest,_

Tatiana


	11. A Little Mishap Can Take You a Long Way

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

Thanks for the review!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine (as much as I'd like to)**.** Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five: Realization<strong>

Yep, you guessed it, it's 6:30 am again, the damnable trumpets saluting the friggin' flag of Maryland again.

I groaned inwardly at the unwanted wake up call. "I hate this place," I groaned into my pillow as I tried to block out the sound by folding the pillow over my head.

I honestly had no idea where Vincent had slept, if he had slept at all with my tossing and turning.

I felt someone's eyes on me so I guessed either the trumpets woke him up or I did.

"I just have one question, Vincent," I said, lifting my head from the pillow, ignoring the fact that my hair was completely messed up. I noticed he was sitting on my computer chair.

"What's that, Tatiana?" he replied.

"Which one woke you up—the trumpets or me?" I asked sleepily still.

He said nothing for a while. "Neither." As expected I flinched slightly when he spoke again.

I thought I saw a look of hurt briefly pass through Vincent's face but I couldn't tell due to my lack of sleep and aching head from said condition.

I sighed as I buried my head in my pillow.

"And why's that?" I asked, my voice muffled by the pillow.

"Pardon?" he said. Why does he have to be so polite? Does he know that only makes him more irresistible? And I happen to be looking so indecent at the moment, to top it off . . .

I turned my head instead of lifting it to face him. "I said why is it that neither me nor the damned trumpets woke you up."

"Because I never went to sleep," he replied.

I groaned. "You silly head. You could've just told me; it's not like I sleep much anyway, as I'm sure you've noticed. If you wanted to sleep, you should've told me, I would've let you sleep in the bed."

"But that would've hurt your ability to do what your mother asks in the morning," he replied.

I rolled my eyes sleepily. "It's not like it matters, she would've still yelled at me anyway." I sighed. I was trying to cling to sleep as much as I could while being partly conscious for Vincent.

"You look tired, still. How about I wake you up when your mom comes?" he said.

I yawned and turned my face to the other side, facing away from Vincent. "It's not like it matters. When my dad comes back at 7 am you'll know why. He stomps up and down the stairs and argues with my mom. I finally manage to get some sleep but around 9 am they're at it again. I try to get up at 10 am, when he's already long gone to work, but he's been trying to change that, just like my mom. Happens every day except on the weekend. I barely sleep nowadays so I spend most of that time in the morning just laying here, waiting to fall asleep." I yawned again and said, "Vincent, you wouldn't really mind if I went to sleep now, would you?"

"On the contrary, I would encourage that," he said.

"Thanks, Vincent. You're a great guy," I said before falling asleep again.

* * *

><p>7 am-ish<p>

I woke up to hear my dad stomping down the stairs while keeping up a conversation/argument with my mom.

I suppressed a groan and buried my face on the pillow. You know that feeling you get when you're lying in bed and then you notice that it seems like the bed sinking just a little too much under your weight and it turns out there's someone else on the bed with you? Yeah, that's the feeling I got.

I lifted my head up and noticed Vincent was laying on the bed, next to me but a considerable distance from me. I suppressed a laugh as I saw how close to the edge he was.

"Vincent, I'm not going to hurt you if you scoot over so that you're not falling off the bed, you know," I said, trying to not laugh.

He blinked and turned to me. "You're awake," he stated.

"No, really! After all, my dad's making such a racket, I'm surprised you even managed to sleep," I replied. I laid my head back on the pillow and said, "Vincent, scoot over this way. I'm worried you might fall off the bed."

He scooted over just slightly.

I rolled my eyes and buried my face on the pillow. "Have it your way," I muttered airily.

I felt him scoot over just a bit more. "Is this enough?" he asked, something in his tone I couldn't quite place. Irritation? Possibly.

I turned my head and noticed that he was now about a foot away from me. "I don't know; are you still dangerously close to falling over the edge of the bed?" I asked derisively.

"No. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't take that tone with me," he said.

I laughed and shook my head. "As if I had any control over that at this early in the morning," I replied.

I sighed as I turned over and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Once my feet touched the carpet I looked for my mom's earphones from her iPod that I'd taken hostage. I found them and plugged them into my radio. I turned it on and, just my luck, the hit station was playing "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace, one of my uttermost favorite songs on Earth.

That song always made me feel different inside. I always squealed whenever the song came on. This time it was an exception. The part that always gets to me is the guitar part at the beginning. I always squeal at that. My heart feels lighter, and you think I'm crazy. Crazy rabid fangirl, I suppose.

When the song ended, the magic ended. I sighed. In the three minutes that that song plays, I'm happy. But reality is always just a step behind. I turned off the radio and took off the earphones.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed again, but this time I got up to brush my hair. I got some clothes and went to the bathroom to change. I brushed my teeth while I was at it. I managed to get back into my room without anyone from my family seeing me.

_I guess dad went to work, Josh's watching TV, and mom must be cooking or something, _I thought.

I closed the door behind me and just as I sat down on my bed, I realized something. I remembered with excellent detail what had happened the night before Vincent got here.

_OH MY GOD! _I thought. _I _wished _he was here for forever and when I tell him he's going to kill me!_

So there I was, panicking. I just screamed in my head over and over. How could I have _done _this to him?

"No. Freaking. Way," I muttered. _There's no way this happened. Wishes don't come true . . . So how come Vincent Valentine is here?_

"What's wrong?" Dear sweet voice you are going to be _so _angry. I buried my head in my pillow so it muffled my scream.

"Tatiana, what's the matter?" he was alarmed now. Great, just great.

I lifted my head from the pillow and turned to Vincent, who was now sitting next to me.

"Vincent," I said carefully. "We need to talk. And let me tell you right now you're going to be devastated." Unless, you know, everyone else is real and we can get you back there . . .


	12. It's Complicated

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve: It's Complicated<strong>

When we finally docked, Vincent made a quick stop at a nearby shop, got some essentials, and off we went. He had decided this time though, to try and teach me a few basics of self-defense and all that. He had me working with a gun and shooting at fiends so I felt less useless.

After lots and lots of drone walking, we managed to get to Kalm and stopped at an inn to rest. In the morning we set out for Edge. The closer and closer we got, the more I panicked about his friends shunning me. I mean, I had only recently left my whole life dimension for this one. What if it turns out that I fit in even less here?

By the time we actually made it to the city I was trembling with anxiety and Vincent noticed.

He hugged me and assured me it'd be fine with his little half smile. I felt a little better and onward we went.

* * *

><p>It took forever but we eventually got to Edge, and once there I was struck by the poverty of the people. These are the faces you see in pictures of like, the Great Depression, but it's so different to see them in real life. They're devastated. Everything was varying shades of gray and black. And the worst part was that I doubted I'd be able to do anything about it. I'd just have to stand by and watch.<p>

I felt a warm arm wrap around my shoulders and I looked up to see Vincent holding me close as we made our way through the streets and to the 7th Heaven. Sometimes you don't need words to express what you feel.

There wasn't anyone inside Tifa's bar yet, but she was wiping down the counter when we entered.

"Vincent," she said in a surprised tone. "It's been a while. How are you?"

I happened to have been standing behind Vincent, trying to delay the moment when she noticed me.

But Vincent had pushed me forward with ease and said in his low raspy voice, "I'm alright. This is Tatiana. Tatiana, this is Tifa."

I waved slightly, glancing at her only briefly, because it was so strange to see her in person. She was a kind of beautiful. But I was angry with her about the way she treats Cloud in the movie. He lost his best friend and his love interest, and he blamed himself for it. I thought she could've been more understanding, considering part of the reason she's upset that he's still sad about it is that she "loves" him.

She smiled at me kindly, and I felt guilty about disliking her. Hadn't really changed my mind, though. Like how I was aware that Vincent would always have memories of Lucrecia he couldn't ever really forget, regardless of what happened between me and him.

"Hi there. Where are you from?" she said gently.

"Uh." Vincent and I never really came up with a particular lie.

"She's a traveler, not really sticking to one place," Vincent rasped, then cleared his throat slightly. I blushed, and hid behind the curtains of my thick shoulder length black hair. Maybe I should've added something at this point to make it more credible?

I seemed to have lost my voice and it came out as a squeaky peep, "Yup, but mostly Costa Del Sol." Riiiight. Well, it _was_ hot there, and Texas _was_ hot _too_. I could pass it off, right?

Tifa nodded and smiled slightly, and while perhaps thought it odd, she didn't say anything about it.

"Do you have some water?" I asked, then face-palmed mentally. _Of course she has water!_ I thought. _There IS a sink, dummy._

"Sure," she said, and poured me a glass.

I sat down on a stool and drank greedily while Vincent sat next to me with a clawed hand resting on my thigh. I did my best to not blush at the implication.

"So where's Cloud?" Vincent asked. His voice sounded thin and raw.

I passed him the remainder of my glass of water and he gave me a look before drinking it.

"Out delivering," Tifa replied with a twinge of irritation, it sounded like.

"Oh. Are the kids around?"

"Marlene's taking care of Denzel upstairs." She frowned.

I felt bad for them, but I knew it'd be over soon, though if I kept saying things it might mess it up for them.

I took my chance to speak. "If it doesn't bother you too much, can I take a shower, and perhaps a quick nap? We've been traveling a long way."

She smiled slightly. "Sure, upstairs, first door to your right."

I took off with my suitcase before anyone said anything else. I rejoiced at feeling cleansing warm water. The dirt from the road finally washed away.

I lay down on the soft bed, immediately feeling my eyelids droop. Now the only thing that was missing was Vincent by my side, but I didn't dare voice that to anyone. I still wasn't sure how his friends would react to him dating someone-if you could call what we're doing dating-a third of his age.

However, my thoughts scattered as I quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>I woke to a hushed conversation outside the door and Vincent stroking my hair.<p>

"Why didn't you sleep, too?" I inquired.

"Because, unlike you, I've slept for too long," he quipped.

That shocked me. That he would tell me something like that (even though I already knew that, but still) was way too impressive.

I sat up, and ever so gently, cupped his face with my hand, and softly kissed him. The kiss turned more fervent the longer it lasted, and before I knew it I was back to lying down, this time with him on top of me, and his gloved hand was stroking my side.

I broke away for air and to get a break from the intensity.

"We shouldn't-" I started, but hadn't quite caught my breath back so I waited and blushed. "We shouldn't get too into it right now."

He coughed. "You're right."

I glanced at him. His voice was rougher than usual and his pupils were taking over his beautiful red irises. Well, at least I knew the reaction was mutual.

After some time of just lying down quietly, I scooted closer to him to cuddle.

He chuckled softly and cuddled me back, planting a kiss on my forehead.

"So," I said after some time. "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know, you tell me," he replied with a hint of amusement.

I broke into a smile despite myself. "Cloud's going to run into some trouble outside Edge, but it's nothing he can't handle. Tifa and Marlene decide to go back to Aeris' church to wait for Cloud but it doesn't go well for them."

"What kind of trouble?" he asked, turning to look at me.

I looked away for a moment. "Well, you actually already know, so I guess it's ok to tell you. The remnants of Hojo's experiments; they get to them both."

"At the same time?" he sounded a little incredulous.

"No, they attack Cloud first, and then he goes to see Rufus. One of the remnants, Loz, goes to the church, fights with Tifa, knocks her out, and takes Marlene and Cloud's materia."

He nodded, taking it all in. "Please don't tell anyone," I said hurriedly. "I know it seems like it's all bad, but everything gets sorted out on its own. I just don't want to cause any more ripples than I already have, because if I do, it's possible that stuff doesn't get sorted out."

"Alright," he said reluctantly. "What am I doing during all this?"

"You don't come in to the movie until way after. Cloud finds Tifa at the church, but they both pass out; Tifa from the fight, Cloud because of the stigma. Reno and Rude bring them back here, where Cloud decides to go to the Forgotten City, which is the remnants' base, and where they're keeping a bunch of kids they've kidnapped. The leader, Kadaj, makes them drink this black water that sort of mind-controls them. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo fight Cloud, and just when it looks like he's losing, you sweep in and save the day." I couldn't help but say it like that.

Vincent eyed me with disapproval. "And you still think we shouldn't tell anyone what you know?"

I sighed. "I know it seems odd to let all this conflict happen and not seemingly do anything about it, but we have to let it play out. Trust me; everything will be okay in the end."

"I don't agree," he said. "You saw it all happen that way but that was without you here. You are here. You've already changed events, haven't you?"

"Look," I said quickly. "We can still let the big things happen the way they should. I think you and I should go wait in the Forgotten City, right outside the remnants' base, for when Cloud arrives. You're right that I've already changed events, but that doesn't mean I want to mess up even more of the time-space continuum. You all have roles to play, and I mean to get you to play yours when the time comes."

That seemed to stun him. He actually looked slightly insulted. "Roles to play . . ."

I decided now was a good time to shut up before he decided to storm out of here and tell everyone everything.

"Alright . . ." he said slowly. "If you say so, I suppose I'll have to trust you on that."

"Really?" I said a little too eagerly.

He looked at me pointedly. "We'll leave at the break of dawn tomorrow, though."

I sighed inwardly. The forever-nomads, we were.

"Can we eat something?" I asked.

He nodded and we went downstairs and tried to find something to eat, even if it was only bar food. Nothing. We found Tifa upstairs, and let her know we were going out to find something to eat.

We wound up at some noodle restaurant, but I wasn't about to complain. Real food was real food.

Not long after, with our bellies full and the sun dipping at the horizon, we went back to Tifa's 7th Heaven, and straight to the bedroom we were staying at. I told Vincent he should take this opportunity to shower himself and I went back to the bed.

Just as I was starting to fall asleep, Vincent came out of the bathroom with wet hair and no cloak. He looked so different when you could see more than a quarter of his face. Half was still covered by his hair though.

I smirked involuntarily and patted the spot next to me in bed.

He chuckled at my expression and kissed me deeply as he lay on top of me.

I giggled when we broke apart. He caressed my face with a not-gloved hand and that shocked me for a moment. The man always wore gloves. His hands were a little rough, but not too much; just the right amount of worn.

He kissed me again, and his hand dropped to my side. My heart stopped when he was stroking the skin under my shirt, but it started beating again once I realized he wasn't going any higher. It was a lovely gesture.

I don't know when we finally broke apart for sleep, but I enjoyed every second until then. I cuddled him earnestly.


	13. It's Magic

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen: It's Magic<br>**

As the first ray of sunlight streaked through the window, Vincent gently prodded me before kissing my forehead.

I smiled, eyes still closed.

"We have to go, my sleeping angel," he whispered in my ear, his voice husky.

I blushed, then stirred some. "Why can't we leave later?" I groaned into the pillow.

Vincent chuckled at that and suddenly I felt myself being pulled off the bed.

I quickly kicked out and scrambled to my feet, wide awake now.

Vincent stood in front of me, chuckling, rubbing his face.

"Sorry," I mumbled. He waved it off. "But that's not very nice."

He smiled at me a little. "Get dressed, love."

I hustled to gather my things and took care of bodily functions.

When I was ready, Vincent pulled me into a deep kiss.

A knock on the door startled the hell out of me and suddenly I felt like I was back in my old room, making out with a boyfriend, and my mom was knocking on the door, furious we'd closed it.

But this wasn't home; this was Edge, and that wasn't my mom; it was Tifa, asking if we wanted a light breakfast.

Vincent eyed me curiously as I smoothed my hair back and told her I'd just have some water.

When her footsteps faded, Vincent kissed me again.

The words _I love you_ were on the tip of my tongue but I swallowed them, gently broke away, grabbed my suitcase, and trotted downstairs.

Tifa eyed me inquisitively as I drank the water she'd set down for me. She took a breath, as if to say something, but Vincent came downstairs and the air went out of her. She eyed both of us suspiciously so I'm sure it was clear she hadn't missed the look that passed between me and Vincent.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Vincent said, "but Tatiana and I have to leave now."

"O-okay." Tifa was struggling with voicing her thoughts and I had to bite back a laugh.

_Is that fear of or respect for Vincent, I wonder?_

"Thanks for everything," I murmured shyly, and made a run for the door, suitcase in tow. Vincent followed.

* * *

><p>We went to a shop and grabbed some potions, a gun for me, more ammo (because they really <em>do<em> have to reload), and supple leather armor for me.

I gave Vincent a look for that but I tried not to be so stupid as to worry about this . . . fashion statement. _Tried._ I mean it's not like it's bulletproof, so what's the point?

Vincent remained unmoved. Well . . . it would have to go over my shirts because it was too bulky otherwise, but I did feel _somewhat_ safer-not. I did like getting a gun holster, but I felt a bit patronized when Vincent kissed my forehead and told me I looked nice. The amused twinkle in his eyes was all the confirmation I needed.

When we were about to leave Edge though, Vincent seemed to be grappling with something. He kept taking one step forward, then one step back (game glitch~).

"Vincent, what's wrong?" I was concerned. That game glitch concept was starting to sound more and more probable.

His frown grew more pronounced. "To get to the Forgotten City, we have to first get to Bone Village, then the Sleeping Forest, perhaps stay at the Icicle Lodge, and then finally our destination."

"Huh. You know," I replied, "they never really went into all that detail in the movie. They just showed Cloud in Edge one scene, then the next he was just near the Forgotten City, riding his motorcycle to it."

"Really?" Vincent looked bewildered.

"Hey, maybe there's a sort of wormhole that leads to it then," I suggested.

Vincent looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm just saying!" I exclaimed with shifty eyes.

"Wormhole?" Vincent pressed.

"Oh well, without getting into the complicated abstract physics of it, I meant it in the sense that it's like a portal, that you can just step through, but in Cloud's case, he drove through it," I answered.

"Where do you think it would be?" Vincent inquired.

"I dunno." I gave it some thought. "He just left Tifa's bar and then bam, he was there, but maybe . . . oh! Aeris' church!"

"You think there's something special there?"

I kindly left out that that's where, thanks to Aeris' tears/rain/all-magical-water, there'd be a pool of said water there. "Yea, I feel like perhaps it has some sort of mystical aspect to it. I mean, Aeris did spend quite a bit of time there, and she was special."

"I have a feeling you're leaving out something," he said, casting me a suspicious glance.

"Just trust me when I say important things happen there, okay?" I prayed that would be enough to convince him.

He sort of huffed and nodded.

"So, which way to the church?"

* * *

><p>Seeing the ruins in person was far better than any HD movie or video game. It was breathtaking, but all I could think of was how to put it all back together. Aeris' theme played in the back of my head.<p>

Vincent and I looked around for anything that seemed portal-y, but that wasn't exactly easy.

"Would it be_ in _the church?" Vincent inquired.

"No . . . I don't think so, because Cloud had to drive through it with his motorcycle, remember?"

I searched the ruins outside the church until there was something shimmering in the air, like a heat wave, but it just looked, _different_.

I called over Vincent and we gazed at it.

"Let's test it first," I announced, grabbed a small piece of rubble, and chucked it at the shimmer. It disappeared through it, but not before we got a slight glimpse of the white woods of the Forgotten City.

"That's incredible," Vincent mused. We shared a glance before he took my hand and we walked through. I was terrified but hopeful at the same time.

* * *

><p>The view of the woods was breathtaking as well. The trees seemed to glow, and I recalled Macalania Woods from Final Fantasy 10. I couldn't help touching the trees appreciatively.<p>

Vincent put a hand on my shoulder, turned me around gently, and pressed a kiss to my lips. "Do you know exactly where the battle will take place?"

I shook my head. "The kids and the evil gang are going to be in a clearing, in front of this pond, mini-lake thing, but that's not exactly where you show up and help Cloud."

I was also far too terrified to move further into the woods, so I leaned against the tree I'd been admiring. "It's a little ways past that clearing."

Vincent looked at me with an amused twinkle in his eyes.

"What?" I said, blushing.

"It's safer on the branches than down here." His lips curved up as he snaked one arm around me, grabbed my luggage with the other, and just, I don't know, _flew_ up to the branches of this tree? He most likely jumped but it was still mind boggling.

He struggled to find a way for us to be balanced along with the suitcase, but eventually just chose a sturdier branch while I leaned against the trunk of the tree, and he held me in place.

The view from up here was also marvelous. I snuggled into him, enjoying the way his arms tightened their hold on me.

I looked up at him, and he gave me a soft kiss. I held on to his cloak, the part near his chest. We stayed like that for a few more seconds before he gently broke the kiss and we actually sat on the branch instead of standing.

I was flushed and wait, was that a smirk on his face? Seriously, I never would have thought I'd see that expression on his face. But then again, this is also the Vincent that is always amused with me.

He leaned in closer, and held me while he kissed me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his soft hair.

This was certainly a great way to kill time.


	14. The Ties that Bind

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

I was recently inspired to write more~ I'm enjoying the complete version of Advent Children, guys. I hadn't realized that there was more than one version o.o There's over 30 min of additional footage on the complete version, guys! It's soooo good lol

Also, I intend to edit/rewrite the previous chapters in my spare time, so those will be more pristine~

Anyway, many thanks to everyone who added this story to their alerts/favorites and has reviewed; I really appreciate it! Let me know what you think~

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen: The Ties that Bind<strong>

We'd stopped kissing a while back, on Vincent's insistence. Also on his insistence, we switched spots so that he was leaning against the tree trunk and I was resting my back on his chest.

Vincent's right hand moved on my stomach. I looked down and saw that his palm was facing up. I laced my fingers with his gloved hand, but only patted the arm with the claw, because the gauntlet itself was probably ice cold. His breath hitched and he squeezed my hand.

"What is it?" I whispered, turning my head to face him.

His head was tilted to one side as if he was listening intently. "I think I can hear Kadaj."

My heart sped up. "Which way; do you know?"

He looked around slowly, then decidedly pointed to the left, and started to get up.

"Where are you going?" My voice quavered more than I'd have liked.

He shot me a look. "I can't just sit around and watch, Tatiana."

I flinched at his reproachful tone. "You aren't. Listen to me." I tugged on his cloak and he begrudgingly sat back down.

Carefully, I turned myself around to fully face him.

"I know this goes against your every instinct, but you _have_ to trust me. I've changed too much already. You know what? I'm just not going to share any more knowledge."

He narrowed his eyes at me and almost growled.

I held my ground. "It's too tempting for you, and this conflict needs to be resolved as close to the original way as possible. Besides," I added," what makes you think you can take on all three of them at once?"

That seemed to hit the mark.

I continued, "Please just be patient and wait for Cloud. It'll get worse before it gets better, yes; but it _does_ get better."

His gaze softened. "Alright, Tatiana. I'm going to trust you on this."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I know accepting this isn't easy."

He leaned forward as if to kiss me but stopped, centimeters away.

I stole a quick peck anyway. His lips twitched a little, as if holding back a smile.

"What's wrong?" I murmured.

"Cloud's here," he said, and with that he swiftly took hold of me and jumped from tree branch to tree branch. I held on to him for dear life and braced myself for the coming battle.

* * *

><p>Really, Vincent didn't want me trying to help, me being a noob and all, and considering how many kids were around, it was probably for the best. But during the fight, at one point, Loz caught sight of me. Even though I tried to shoot, he was just too fast, and in no time he was on me, presumably to snap me in two.<p>

Next thing I know, Vincent's shielding me with his body, gun trained on Cloud, who's got his sword pointed at, oh shit, _me_? What the hell did _I_ do? Marlene was behind him, looking terrified.

"Vincent, can you explain why _she_ was just possessed by that, _thing_?" Cloud enunciated.

Wait, I was possessed? By what? How much time had passed? It seemed like only a minute ago I was about to be dead meat at Loz's hands, and now it seems the fighting was over and Kadaj and his gang were gone.

"I don't know, Cloud, but I intend to find out," Vincent bit out.

"Vince, what's going on?" I whispered over his shoulder.

Cloud's eyes narrowed. "She doesn't remember?"

"I will figure out what happened," Vincent said gruffly. "You need to take Marlene back to Tifa's."

After intensely staring at me, Cloud sheathed his sword. "What's your name?"

Vincent lowered his gun and put it away.

"T-Tatiana," I stammered.

Cloud grunted softly and turned to leave, Marlene in tow. She tossed me one last frightened look before taking Cloud's hand and walking away from us.

Vincent finally turned his gaze to me, and I caught a glimpse of the mask he'd put up for Cloud before it crumbled and the fear and pain he was feeling surfaced.

"Do you really not remember anything?"

I lowered myself to the forest floor and he sat in front of me, clutching both of my hands in his.

I winced involuntarily at the cold of his claw but thought back. "I was trying to shoot Loz, but he was too fast, and knocked the gun out of my hand." I swallowed thickly. "He was about to k-kill me, I think, or something, I don't really know, but the next moment I'm standing behind you, and you and Cloud were facing off-what the hell happened?"

Sympathy colored his features. It was a painfully long silence before he spoke. "I heard . . . familiar _growling_, and when I looked over . . . you weren't _you_. You were . . ."

Vincent pressed his lips together and turned away. I frowned. I was already feeling afraid and confused; he was building up the suspense, and now he felt too, _adjective_, to even finish telling me what he was going to say?

"Vincent, what is it? What was I? I wasn't me, I was _what_, exactly?" I pressed.

"You were Chaos," he murmured so softly I had to repeat it several times in my head to understand.

I couldn't speak or think; I barely breathed. "What?"

"You were afraid, were you not? Understandably so," Vincent said softly. "Perhaps it's like how we can't be more than 2 miles apart."

I let that statement hang in the air. _It's my fault, _again,_ for making that stupid wish._ _What the _hell _was I thinking?_ I shook my head slightly, and felt tears well up in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Vince," I whispered, and hugged my knees to my chest. Not only had I limited his autonomy, now I also linked myself to this demon inside him that only _he_ could handle because he had special materia within him. What if now I died because Chaos came out too often? How much was too often, anyway?

"Hey," Vincent murmured. I looked up at him, and with his gloved hand, he gently pulled my face up to his. Ever so carefully, he pressed his lips to mine.

"I never thought I would have someone to share that burden with me," he whispered hoarsely.

_Oh_. I blushed deeply. He managed to find a silver lining to this? Who was I to complain about that?

"Well that's great Vincent, that we share something this . . . difficult, but there's the matter of whether or not it puts my life at risk, seeing as how . . ."

"What?" his eyebrows furrowed.

_Crap_. He didn't know about the materia thing because he wouldn't find out for another 2 years, in the events from Dirge of Cerberus. _Come up with something quick . . ._

"It's being afraid for my life that makes Chaos come out, isn't it? Therefore I'd have to be in danger for that to happen." Well, that much was true anyway.

He nodded slightly. "I'll keep you safe, I promise." He kissed me before the blush could settle in, which made me happy because that meant he didn't see it.

Moments later, we set out to find my suitcase and the gun I had, which Loz had knocked away. This was at _least_ a 20-30 minute endeavor but I felt better because of it. However, we had the issue of where to go now, since Cloud had long since gone and, well. It _is_ the woods and all, and night had fallen for quite some time.

After some contemplation, we decided it was best to make camp for the night. If I woke up with twigs in my hair, I'd be amused.

We slept near a bush, and as I lay cuddled up against him, I wondered when we'd be stable enough that we wouldn't be sleeping in random places.

* * *

><p>The next morning, I realized I'd forgotten critical details to ask Vincent about the night before.<p>

"What exactly did I . . . Chaos do, last night?" I wasn't sure whether or not he'd tell me but I figured the least I could do was ask.

He pressed his lips together briefly before saying, "Fought off Kadaj and his gang. They got away before anything too serious happened to them."

"Oh." So I guess I was affecting major events after all.

Vincent looked a little worried and a little proud. It must've been a complicated mix of emotions.

I took his gloved hand in mine as we walked out of the Forgotten City, suitcase in tow. We'd make it through somehow. We had to.


	15. Preparations for Battle

22Dec2014 Update: Hello dear readers! I'm looking through all of the chapters of this story and rewriting certain things to make it better. Thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope you like it.

This has been a long time coming lol. But I hope you enjoy it :) Thank you for the reviews and adding this story to your favorite/alerts! Let me know what you think~

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: Preparations for Battle<strong>

In the morning, I started to ponder the implications of our new . . . complication. I doubted I'd ever learn to control Chaos, so it was a safe bet to assume that if my life was in danger in any way, I'd risk it/him coming out and unleashing havoc on everyone. I'd have to get more details from Vincent to figure out how it/he eventually . . . I don't know, stopped possessing me. Perhaps there _was_ a way to control Chaos after all, if only marginally.

In any case, I couldn't deny that it made me feel closer to Vincent, and also a more valuable member of "the team," even if it did mean I was a loose cannon. At least I was still useful, in a way . . . sort of.

"Where do we go next?" Vincent inquired after some time.

"I'm not sure where you go after you helped out Cloud," I mused. "But after that battle, what was _supposed_ to happen is Kadaj and his gang take the kids back to Edge, and, well . . ."

Vincent glared at me. "And what?"

"Umm . . . they start terrorizing people by summoning these weird monsters that come out of the ground and eventually Kadaj summons one of the forms of Bahamut," I eventually muttered, looking away.

"What?!" Vincent exclaimed.

"They got ahold of Cloud's materia, but look, it's fine. Reno, Rude, and Tifa take care of things for a little while before you, Barrett, Cid, and Yuffie show up and help as well. It takes all of your help to defeat Bahamut. Cloud is there as well; he delivers the final blow to it," I rushed to explain. "Kadaj kind of kidnaps Rufus, and he spends quite a bit of time chatting with him before he decides to summon Bahamut."

"How can you say that's ok?" he reprimanded. "I'm sure many people died, and even more were injured."

"Because, Vincent, it all works out in the end. Though truth be told, I'm not entirely sure that's how it'll all happen now, since I've changed things. I suppose all that matters though, is that we make our way back to Edge as fast as possible," I replied.

"Walking is most likely not the best idea," Vincent said. "Any chance we could find the wormhole again?"

"Do you know where Aeris was buried?" I managed to murmur.

Vincent shot me a look. "No, Cloud's the one who buried her, but I could take a guess. Why?"

"The site most likely has special properties, much like the church," I responded. "It's our best shot. I remember it was a pond or lake of some sort, but that's all I know."

Vincent steered me towards the right direction and I took a deep breath once we arrived at our destination. It felt . . . different, somehow more peaceful.

I turned to Vincent after taking a bit of a moment of silence and said, "Umm, we need something to throw at the wormhole to test it after we find it."

He handed me a twig, and we got to squinting around, looking for the heat-wave-ish spot. Eventually Vincent saw it near a tree and waved me over. We tossed the twig and sure enough, we had a brief glimpse of Aeris' church. After we shared a look, he took my hand, I held my suitcase tightly, and we went through it.

* * *

><p>After much disagreement, I finally convinced Vincent that we shouldn't head straight to Tifa's and instead we stay in an inn while we waited for the umm, doom to come to us. He was quite displeased with me but I got him to come around eventually.<p>

I mean, after all, it's not so bad, being stuck in a room, with a bed, _alone_, for a little while, is it? And that's what I told him before he pinned me to the bed with his weight and kissed me.

Our lips whispered softly against each other, and slowly, I reached for the clasp of his cloak, and undid it. He lightly tossed it aside, without breaking the kiss. I ran my fingers through his incredibly soft hair, relishing the feeling.

Moments later, I felt both of his warm and slightly calloused hands teasing the skin underneath the hem of my shirt. _So that's what all those metallic sounds were . . . he was taking off his gauntlet._

Instinctively, I loosely wrapped my legs around his waist while we kissed. His soft lips left me, and I pouted at him.

He chuckled slightly, and slowly ran one hand down one of my legs. I sighed and closed my eyes, enjoying the simple gesture. Then I realized I didn't know where his other hand went.

I opened my eyes to find him reaching for one of my hands, and we laced our fingers together. I glanced up at him realized something.

"Wait a second."

"Hmm?" he breathed, and placed a soft kiss on the back of my hand, still holding it.

"You can't possibly be comfortable in that position," I noted. He appeared to be sitting back on his legs, with mine now laying on either side of him, while he continued to run one of his hands up and down my leg, ever so slowly.

His eyes twinkled with amusement. "Oh Tatiana, always concerned about my comfort on beds."

I laughed slightly. "It's not my fault you don't ever get comfortable on your own."

He smiled a little, and then said, "Is this an invitation for me to do so?"

I grinned. "Yes, Vincent, this is an 'invitation' for you to get comfortable."

In seconds, he was spooning me, with his right arm draped over my waist. He held me tighter, and then wiggled his fingers. I placed my right hand over his, and closed my fingers around it.

He placed a kiss on my shoulder, then pushed my shirt with his nose until his lips were making direct contact with my skin. He kissed that spot over and over, ever so slowly, until I felt warm all over. Then he gently turned me to face him, and I could see in his eyes he felt the same way.

He looked as if he were about to say something when suddenly we heard a loud rumble, and I was reminded of why I had this alone time with Vincent in the first place.

We rushed to the window and saw the destruction beginning to happen. The weird creatures were on the prowl, attacking those who were too slow or in shock to run away. I felt a deep ache of fear and pain as I watched people run amuck, screaming. I chanced a look at Vincent and found him scowling.

"When am I allowed to intervene?" he said curtly.

I flinched but fought to keep my composure. "You could go now; you just can't talk to Tifa until after Bahamut has been summoned." I looked away. "I suppose I should stay here."

He took me into his arms and kissed me. "You can't, though, because we can't be more than 2 miles apart."

I grimaced, remembering.

"Here, this might help." Then he proceeded to take out 3 materia from his arm and handed them to me. They were green; magic. "Cure, barrier, and shell. They should keep you safe."

"Umm, how do you use them?" I asked, holding two of the materia in one hand and the leftover in the other. They felt surprisingly cold.

"Right, I forgot you've never used these before. The gun I gave you allows you to use 3, so just place them on your arm, like this," he said, taking one, and gently pressing it into my left arm. I thought it would hurt at first but it just went in smoothly, like a hot knife through butter. I gasped at the low hum of power coursing through me.

"You try putting in the others," he said. I did as I was told. It was a curious feeling; I was suddenly aware of what each materia was, even though at first glance I wouldn't have known what each one was for.

"To cast the spell, simply think about which one you want to cast. Try using barrier first."

I nodded and focused, imagining the weird white diamond of the animation surrounding me. Almost instantaneously, I could actually see it, and I felt as if I could take on more hits and be ok, which seemed appropriate.

"Good, and now shell."

I concentrated again, and thought of how it felt to be protected from physical attacks, and simply willed it to apply to magical attacks as well. The "animation" surrounded me and I felt much safer than before.

"Not bad for your first time," Vincent murmured, and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"How long do they last?" I inquired after pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"It's been a while since I actually used them, so I'm not sure. You'll be able to tell the difference though. Just be careful." He pulled me into a tight hug, and suddenly the realization that I could potentially die out there hit me like waves crashing into a rocky shore. I was about to beg him to let me stay until I mentally slapped myself.

_Snap out of it. It's like you _want_ Chaos to try and save you_. With that in mind, I steeled myself for what was coming for us.

"Should I leave my suitcase here?"

"I think that would be best, for now," Vincent replied. I nodded slightly, but I think he could see the worry and fear on my face.

He kissed me, really hard. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." His voice was far rougher and rawer than I'd ever heard it before. It brought tears to my eyes and a deep blush to my cheeks. I nodded again and kissed him, holding him tightly.

After taking a moment to catch our breaths, we stepped out of the "safety" of our hotel room and into the streets.


	16. Chapter 16

Hello dear readers! This here is the final installment of the story. It has been a very long time coming. I hope the journey has been enjoyable, even though it took me forever and a day to get it together. The chapter is untitled because the first one was also (for the same reason; couldn't think of a title.) I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vincent Valentine. Square Enix does. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen<br>**

In the concrete jungle, I stuck close to Vincent to avoid losing myself in the throngs of people trying to escape the mayhem Bahamut created.

It was difficult (for me, anyway), but we focused on heading _towards_ the thing making the awful sounds, until we finally spotted the creature, just as it was about to take a swipe at Tifa and Denzel.

Before we knew it, we were surrounded by Yuffie, Cid, Cait Sith, Red XIII, and Barrett, however briefly, and though cursory glances were cast at me by some of the crew (namely Yuffie and Tifa), everyone decided to concentrate on the more pressing problem: how to stop Bahamut from destroying Edge.

In the end, they all ran off towards it, while Vincent felt compelled (by his conscience and by our otherworldly _bind_) to stick to me. When Tifa suggested I go back to her bar with Denzel, it was difficult to lie and say I could fight just fine but we managed.

And so began the dangerous little game of "how close can Vincent be to the action while I stay as far away as possible and try not to be a hindrance." Hopefully Tifa didn't notice. _Hopefully._

I wondered how much magic power (points?) I had left, and figured I should probably not spam casting stuff, just in case I was low.

As we neared Bahamut, I took a look around and noticed we were also nearing that moment in the movie when everyone helps Cloud get up high enough to kill it.

"Hey, Vincent," I called after him. He turned around and stopped running. "We have to get on that tower!" I pointed.

When he gave me an inquisitive look, I said, "Just trust me."

He nodded, appearing to understand this directive was because of the movie. Then he held me tightly to him, picked me up, and took off running in that superhuman speed he had. I simply buried my head in his neck and focused on deep breaths while holding on to him for dear life.

It seemed only moments ago I was at home, watching the movie, and now I was living it. The experience was so surreal, but as Vincent explained that I was going to be riding him piggyback while he climbed and/or jumped up this tower, and I felt everything that I was feeling, there was no way I could doubt this was real.

Now my new challenge was to not look down. Luckily Vincent was still using his superhuman speed so the torture was over fairly quickly.

"How far up do I need to go?" he asked.

"To be honest I'm not sure. In the movie it seemed arbitrary. Just as high as your instincts tell you to go," I responded.

He embraced me, and I kissed him, deeply. While I thoroughly enjoyed the sudden displays of affection, I was worried of what might come down on him from his friends, given the rather obvious age gap. We were going to have to deal with that eventually, right?

We heard a _whoosh_ and broke apart. I gently nudged him towards the edge of the building. "He needs you," I murmured.

After Vincent gave Cloud a boost, we sat cuddling and watched him kill Bahamut. A great blue glow emanated from their collision.

When I heard the sound of blades, I immediately detached myself from Vincent, for worry of Cid on his airship and what he might think. Unfortunately, in my haste, I nearly tumbled to my death, though luckily Vincent caught me just in time.

"Did the sound startle you?" he murmured in my ear.

"S-something like that," I mumbled, and when Cid turned the ship around, I knew it was time to board and meet the rest of the crew.

* * *

><p>I concentrated once again on taking deep breaths and maintaining a neutral expression when Vincent introduced me to everyone. No labels were attached to my name. Just a simple, "This is Tatiana," and that was the end of that. Or so I'd <em>hoped<em>.

Unfortunately for me, Yuffie and her big mouth had other plans. "Isn't she like, your girlfriend or something?"

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. _Who would ever dare to say something like that to Vincent? What if he flips out? Well, figures the only person brave enough would be Yuffie._

"Isn't she a little too young for you, Vincent?" Barrett hollered.

Vincent sent them both a cool gaze, cleared his throat, and shifted his weight from foot to foot. I wished my blush wasn't as intense as it felt and mutely stared out the oversized window to gaze at the city. _Way to look guilty, guys._

To add to the awkwardness, Tifa wondered out loud, "What about . . . Lucrecia?"

There. One of the topics that I didn't ever want to bring up if I could help it. I'd managed to avoid thinking too deeply about what toll Vincent's past love would take on our relationship, but it seems that not only was the topic going to be discussed now, it would be in front of Cid, Tifa, Cait Sith, Barrett, Yuffie, and _TIFA FOR GOD'S SAKE HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?_

Vincent took a breath, as if to reply, but I could no longer see or hear properly. The embarrassment and awkwardness of the situation just became too much. I could barely breathe, and something felt like it was shifting inside of me.

The conversation somehow managed to go on, despite the awkwardness factor going up the wall and through the roof, but I couldn't make sense of anything that was said. At some point hot tears welled up in my eyes but I refused to get this emotional here, in front of everyone. I turned around and stalked out of the room, with the intent to go up to the outside of the ship, where I could get some air, and much needed space.

I couldn't breathe fast enough. My body continued to feel like it was shifting, until it was too much to continue to ignore. Once the elevator released me into the outside air, I collapsed, gasping. Then I noticed my arms.

They were pitch black, and in place of my nails were claws. The panic reached a new level, and my face began to itch. _Holy crap, how did I manage to forget all of this the first time it happened?_

I gave up on staying calm. I could hardly think in complete sentences. The fear was consuming me, but it was replaced by an intense rage. It wasn't even directed at anyone or anything. I just had this urge to destroy.

I was acutely aware of another presence near me, and an insistent tug from the very core of my being told me this was no foe.

I scanned its face, but I barely registered details. All I had to go on was the gut feeling to _not_ hurt this person. They were to be _protected_.

But this person was _grabbing_ me! Squeezing my arms, calmly speaking words, imploring me with its gaze. Those beautiful red eyes beseeching me to pay attention . . . to what, exactly?

_You need to relax._ What?

_You're safe here_. Of course I am. I could easily annihilate any and all threats to my life.

_NO. You need to calm down because you're not in any danger._ Who said I'm not calm?

_Then why are you not yourself?_ I'm . . . I'm not sure.

_Come back to me, Tatiana._ Tatiana? Who is that? Who are _you_?

_Tatiana, it's Vincent. I know you're in there. I know the rage roiling around inside you, and I know it isn't yours. It's Chaos' rage. I need you to ignore it and come back to me._ Come back to you how? I feel just fine. Incredible, actually.

_This power you're feeling is not yours, and it's destructive. It will control you if you let it, and that's not who you want to be. Come back to me_.

I felt tears welling up again, and gasped for air again. "W-what's going on?"

"Tatiana?" The urgency in Vincent's voice worried me.

"Yea? What happened?"

He embraced me tightly, clutching me to his chest, and let out a long exhale.

"Vince, did something happen?" I scanned his face for clues, gently placing a hand on his cheek. A hand which was back to its usual tan color. A hand which was not black. A hand which had no claws.

I gasped. "Wait, did I . . . did I _transform_ again?"

He nodded curtly, pressing his lips together into a tight line. "Do you remember any of it?"

"Y-yea, I think I do," I mumbled, burying my head in his neck, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"What happened to make you . . . _change_?" he inquired.

I turned scarlet, for sure. He would certainly feel the sudden heat against his neck. I moved my head slightly, pressing my cheek against the fabric of his cloak.

"Tatiana," he pressed. I squirmed some more.

He sighed softly, and gently led me back inside.

In a spare room of the ship, we sat down on the floor, side by side, and I knew the conversation I'd been dreading would finally take place. At least this time we were alone, though only because I'd had a fit.

"You . . . know about her then?" Vincent slowly muttered after some time.

"Yea," I whispered, and turned my head to look away when I thought I felt tears coming on again.

Vincent cleared his throat. "What exactly do you know?"

"Everything," I murmured.

"What does that . . . entail?" his voice was raspier than usual.

"I know you were once a Turk, tasked with protecting her," I continued to murmur. "I know you two fell in love. I know it ended badly. To save your life she gave you Chaos, and in response to everything that happened, you chose to sleep, for a long time, in a coffin."

Silence.

Well, I suppose it's better that way. I didn't want to chance a glance at him. I was afraid of what his expression would give away. I was afraid of what he'd say.

"That . . . information was private," he muttered.

I almost made a half-hearted quip about the internet and lack of privacy but I thought better of it, given that a) he wouldn't understand it and b) it was truly not the time.

"I'm really sorry, Vincent," I murmured. "I can't imagine how hard that must've been, especially given that you had to go through it alone."

"It's in the past," he muttered darkly.

"Be that as it may, I know it changed you. And I know that she will probably always have a special place in your heart." The words cut deep into me, but I needed to say them. "I'm sorry that Tifa had to bring it up but I understand if . . ."

If what? If the memory of Lucrecia, the mere mention of her, was enough for him to, what, want to end this, whatever it was? Even if he did, it wasn't an option, given that if we were physically apart for more than 2 miles, he'd die. I had to face the facts; I didn't give him a choice about this. When I made my wish, I doomed him, for better or worse.

More silence followed.

He gently placed a hand on my shoulder, and pulled me towards him. I still couldn't bear to see his face, but he wasn't having any of that.

With a gloved hand, he turned my face to look at him, and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. "I know the circumstances surrounding this, our relationship, have been . . . difficult, to say the least. But that doesn't mean that I regret any of it."

I got my first glimpse of his crimson eyes after what felt like eternity, and all I saw was sincerity in them.

"Lucrecia was . . . once special to me, yes. But she's gone now, and I have you in my life, and I want you to . . . stay in my life. I have . . . fallen in love with you, Tatiana, and that's not something I thought I would ever feel again."

My eyes watered, and I couldn't contain a sniffle. "I love you too," I murmured, and placed a kiss on his lips.

He held me tightly to him, squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe, but I didn't care. The moment was perfect.

* * *

><p>We walked out hand in hand, and when I subconsciously started to pull away, Vincent tugged on me with a lovely half smile on his face. "No, we're not going to hide it anymore." I smiled back.<p>

"So what exactly happened? I sort of zoned out once the transformation began," I inquired.

"Nothing too critical," he said evasively. "Just um . . . I explained that we found each other under unusual circumstances, and through spending time together, we grew to be close, and we developed a romantic relationship."

I tried to hold back a laugh. So formal, but it was adorable. On impulse, I pressed a kiss to his cheek, just as we entered the main room of the airship. In plain sight. It felt good to be able to just _be_.

"How's Cloud doing?" I asked the room.

Tifa turned to me slowly with a stricken look. _Oh, right. He technically "dies."_

"Go to the church," I said hurriedly.

"Why?" she questioned, a bit suspicious of me now.

"Just trust me on this." I realized quickly these people would not trust me as easily as Vincent would.

"She has really good intuition about this sort of thing," Vincent added. Well, that's _one_ way to put it. "She's the one who told me that Cloud was in trouble in the Forgotten City."

"How does she know-" Tifa started.

"She just does," Vincent answered firmly, clearly not willing to discuss it further.

I turned scarlet for the millionth time that day. "_She_ is right here. I know because that's where Aeris would leave him."

_Everyone_ turned to stare at me now.

"It's a long story, how I know of all this, but please, just trust me on this. Once you see it, you'll know I'm right," I pleaded.

"Whatever," Cid drawled, and turned the ship to head for the church.

Tifa glared at me some, while everyone else just gave me confused looks.

Oh, for crying out loud, I'm trying to _help_ these people! But I can understand why it looks suspicious.

* * *

><p>Right before we landed, Tifa pulled me aside and whispered to me, "Are you an Ancient?"<p>

I winced. "No, I'm not anything like her." I pursed my lips.

"Then, explain," she insisted.

"Some people dance, some people sing. I just _know_ things, sometimes." Well, better to have her thing I'm some sort of psychic than tell her that her entire _world_ was created for other people's entertainment.

Her eyes narrowed and she nodded slightly. "Fine then." She might not have truly let it go, but I was certainly not going to tell her the truth, either.

Our group proceeded towards the church, where they found all of the children afflicted with stigma, and Cloud floating in the spring where the flowers used to be.

I couldn't help but smile a little as Cloud poured some of the water on Denzel's forehead and cured him of his stigma. It was a fitting end to this tragedy.

But I was more interested in seeing if I could catch a glimpse of the golden lady herself: Aeris. I know Cloud would see her, but would _I_ be able to?

Vincent enveloped me in his embrace, and I kissed his cheek. He tightened his grip on me, and I felt bliss.

Then, out of thin air, she appeared. Her hair was flawless, her dress unmarred by the world. She seemed to be talking to the kids near her.

Aeris turned, and her face was beautiful, though slightly reminiscent of Sephiroth's. "Thank you for helping them." Her voice was angelic, and carried over the entire ruckus of gleeful children.

I nodded slightly. Perhaps I was seeing a different vision of her than Cloud?

But when I turned, I saw Cloud staring right at me, with a curious look on his face.

I chuckled a little when his focus was interrupted by children jumping on him. Who would've thought he'd be good with kids?

I felt Vincent nudging me. "You ready to go home?"

The words were enough to warm my whole being. "Yea, I am."

He kissed me softly, then took my hand and guided me out of the church. The movie plot may have been over, but our story had only just begun.

* * *

><p>Lastly, a shout out to everyone who reviewed this story, andor added it to their favorites/alerts: Purple Pallbearer, kero/alesana4ever, koiketsudayou, Willow, Catslock, TinayValentine, pinkus-pyon, dragonqueen909, Bakugan-FinalFantasylover4444, Teredirktyl, Anju Styx, , wolfprincess45, kiorymaru, LadydemolatronTheDarkusLady12, savannahamminga, Dovie-DM-1991-Promised Wings, cavalrousChomper, ladybug213, fall1ng4u, roelaine, sanctuarys, Saori Dreyar, krisdoki, yu-gi-ohIsDaBomb, DarcyJackson, Wolff Howl, .pumpkin, Mango To The Max, MidnightCarnival, DawnDragon, Tammers, Roxie-fearlessstorm, DaedraChild, cheshirecat1331, and Dazkt. I appreciate the support!


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